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Re:Dotfile Madness by delta_p_delta_x on Monday October 24, 2022 @05:24AM (#33314464)
Personally, I think hidden files are OK, but we have lousy defaults, regardless of OS.

By default, Explorer hides hidden files (and goes one step further and doesn't display file extensions: why???), so do Finder, Dolphin, Nautilus, and even `ls` by default.

Re:Dotfile Madness by Milner08 on Monday October 24, 2022 @07:00AM (#33315083)
Well yeah.. because they are hidden files. They wouldn't be hidden files if the default wasn't to hide them...
Re:Dotfile Madness by Already__Taken on Monday October 24, 2022 @07:09AM (#33315171)
hidden file extensions by default are to "save" users from renaming files and borking the extension. Later windows UX improved the renaming to help avoid selecting the extension.

file extensions are the mistake here really not them being hidden.

Re:Dotfile Madness by donatj on Monday October 24, 2022 @08:19AM (#33315735)
Executability based on extension combined with hidden extensions is imho one of Windows biggest mistakes. Make an exe, give it the icon of a word document - no way for a layperson to know it’s a trick.
Re:Dotfile Madness by maicro on Monday October 24, 2022 @10:22AM (#33316986)
"Show hidden files" and "show extensions for known file types" are two folder options I enable on any Windows system I touch / within a few minutes of installation. I'll take a bit of extra visual clutter if it means I can actually see what all is in a folder, vs. just assuming I know.