Comment 8 for bug 391839

Dlpiane, you are right in that .hidden files are not supposed to be a replacement for permissions, it is an extension of the normal dot-file system. Just like ordinary dotfiles, .hidden should be used to hide files that are of no use to ordinary users other than in some unfrequent situation.

Another thing, if sysadmins gets confused by this, they should consider some other way to make their living. Real power users would certainly be able to remove or add them to their liking if they can't they are not power users.

To ordinary users, that know little or nothing of Unix, hiding files that only are of use to sysadmins and power users makes their lifes easier. Only seing things that are related to their work makes the system more focused. Given the fact, that in most workplaces I have seen, there are far more ordinary user than sysadmins. I would think it is much more important to cater for the needs of the ordinary user than the sysadmin.

All in all, it boils down to should we create a good user interface for Unix or should we just create a good user interface. If our goal was to increase the understanding of how Unix works, then perhaps we should remove the GUI altoghether.

As for wasted processor cycles, I would say that this is not much of a problem on modern hardware. If we have cycles enough to display shadows below our menus or having files instantly indexed by search engines, we certainly have cycles enough to process a few .hidden files, especially as there most likely would be no .hidden files in directories like Documents, Pictures, Movies,... where the user is most likely to browse.