{"id":6103,"date":"2014-05-21T00:01:52","date_gmt":"2014-05-21T07:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=6103"},"modified":"2015-12-19T09:55:48","modified_gmt":"2015-12-19T17:55:48","slug":"windows-messed-up-libraries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=6103","title":{"rendered":"Windows Messed-Up Libraries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s an over-used computer term: Library<\/em>. You can have a programming library, a library of common routines, a library of media files, or even a location that charges late fees when you borrow books. That’s not what most people refer to when they think of Windows and libraries.
\n
\nStarting with Windows Vista (I believe), the concept of Libraries was foisted upon the PC user. I have no idea what Microsoft was thinking. Even in the corporate world, where such things might make sense, I doubt anyone uses Libraries.<\/p>\n

So what is a Library?<\/p>\n

In this instance (because, again, Library<\/em> is an over-used term), a Library is a collection of similar folders.<\/p>\n

For example, on a non-networked PC, the Pictures Library is a collection of files from two separate folders: Those in your My Pictures<\/code> folder and those from the My Pictures<\/code> folder on the Public account. Figure 1. illustrated the Libraries\\Pictures<\/code> folder window.<\/p>\n

\"Figure

Figure 1. The My Pictures<\/code> library.<\/p><\/div>\n

You can review the locations by clicking the link beneath the Library title. In Figure 1, the link says “2 locations.” Click the link to see a window, similar to the one shown in Figure 2, which lists the locations.<\/p>\n

\"Figure

Figure 2. Folders used to create the My Pictures<\/code> library.<\/p><\/div>\n

Similar Libraries exist for documents, music, and videos. Are they necessary? Of course not! This is Microsoft, after all, where necessity might not be a priority.<\/p>\n

The problem is that the dern Libraries keep popping up: When you open a Windows Explorer window, there they are. When you save a document, there they are. Of course, this isn’t an issue: A Library uses a default save location, which is usually the associated folder from your own accounts.<\/p>\n

So, for example, when you save a document to the Documents<\/code> library, it’s actually saved in your own account’s Documents<\/code> folder. That begs the question of why should Windows insist on using Libraries in the first place, a question for which you’ll never get a real answer.<\/p>\n

I’ve employed Libraries maybe twice. My purpose was to bring together disparate folders into one location. So I’d create a project library where documents, images, and other info that spanned my local network was collected in a single location. However, with the advent of Dropbox, Google Drive, and even Microsoft’s own SkyDrive<\/span>, er, OneDrive, that type of library is no longer necessary — or even handy.<\/p>\n

Bottom line: Libraries are, lamentably, here to stay when it comes to Windows. You can, however, ignore them completely. I do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why does Microsoft keep foisting the ‘Library’ concept on users?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[15,13],"class_list":["post-6103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main","tag-pc","tag-windows"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6103"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7958,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6103\/revisions\/7958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}