Ask HN: Why don't windows and mac apps default directories the way emacs does? 6 points by mhdhn on Sept 13, 2019 | hide | past | favorite | 6 comments I've been using Mac OS's and Windows OS's since the '80's like everyone else. I still do not like and do not even get what standard, modern apps use to determine what directory to start out in when you do File -> Open.... And I still don't get what directory they choose to use when you do File -> Save As.... In Emacs, it's always been simple and right: when you do "open" (c-x c-f), it defaults to the same directory as the document you're looking at (the current buffer), and when you do Save As..., it also defaults to saving in the same directory as the document you're looking at (the current buffer). I waste so much time in "modern" apps navigating to the directory I want when it's almost always just the directory of the current file. I wonder if I'm just missing something about the way it works, but I would like to know what is the rationale, if anyone knows. The only other time I asked someone seriously about this, a Windows app developer, was when I suggested defaulting the way I'm used to, and he said that was a great idea, he'd never thought of that. I thought that he might have been pulling my leg though. I kind of don't get it. :)







