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    Can we talk about the rude installers not asking for installation locations?

    47 points breezk0 | 11 comments | 31 Oct 25 14:16 UTC | HN request time: 0.405s | source | bottom

    Title.

    I think it is very rude to just install to any "default" directory and not asks the user where he wants it to be installed.

    1. crazygringo ◴[31 Oct 25 14:56 UTC] No.45772657[source]▶
    Can you be more specific about which platform you're talking about?

    On a Mac, I've never wanted an application to go anywhere but the default /Applications. I don't ever recall being asked if I want another location, nor would I want to be.

    Is it different on Windows or Linux? And why would you want a different install location?

    replies(9): >>45772685 #>>45772699 #>>45772725 #>>45772736 #>>45772799 #>>45773161 #>>45773302 #>>45773635 #>>45777967 #
    2. birdman3131 ◴[31 Oct 25 14:58 UTC] No.45772685[source]▶
    The main reason is wanting it on a second drive.
    3. afandian ◴[31 Oct 25 14:59 UTC] No.45772699[source]▶
    And the stuff in "~/Library/Application Support/" and/or "/Library/Application Support" . It's a well-defined place.
    4. marcosdumay ◴[31 Oct 25 15:00 UTC] No.45772725[source]▶
    The OP is probably talking about Windows.
    5. al_borland ◴[31 Oct 25 15:01 UTC] No.45772736[source]▶
    Not the OP, but I do sometimes install macOS applications to ~/Applications. This is especially useful at work where /Application requires elevated permissions. I used to have to request admin rights for a period of time every time VS Code needed do something. In ~/Applications, that’s not an issue.

    Of course, 90% of macOS apps (outside of the App Store) don’t have installers. You just drag the app where you want it, so it’s a moot point.

    6. politelemon ◴[31 Oct 25 15:05 UTC] No.45772799[source]▶
    On any platforms that allows choice of installation location. There could be a multitude of reasons from control to organisation to disk usage.
    7. timemct ◴[31 Oct 25 15:29 UTC] No.45773161[source]▶
    You've probably been asked about it, but it's often phrased differently than simply asking where to install the app. "Would you like to install theAppInQuestion for all users of this computer (install in /Applications) or just you(install in ~/Applications)?"
    8. add-sub-mul-div ◴[31 Oct 25 15:40 UTC] No.45773302[source]▶
    You might want to use another drive because there's space there or because it's faster, and what you're installing is a game that's sensitive to load times.
    9. JohnFen ◴[31 Oct 25 16:05 UTC] No.45773635[source]▶
    > Is it different on Windows or Linux? And why would you want a different install location?

    On Linux, I want to be able to choose my install location because I may want it installed on removable media, or on a different drive for space reasons, or because I want to keep executables used for a single project with the rest of the files that comprise that project.

    The same things apply to Windows, but also on Windows (which I only use at work) I specifically want to avoid the use of the standard locations for things so that I don't have to fight with OneDrive about them. Putting them somewhere else means OneDrive will leave them alone.

    replies(1): >>45774202 #
    10. IAmBroom ◴[31 Oct 25 17:00 UTC] No.45774202[source]▶
    Oh, are we opening this discussion up to how much we hate OneDrive? <gets glass of water, sweeps desk clean, pulls up soapbox>
    11. vunderba ◴[31 Oct 25 23:49 UTC] No.45777967[source]▶
    Literally anytime you have a computer with more than one hard drive, or if you want to be able to install it to an external.