# Oh thank god: Microsoft to drop the "My" prefix **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 2, 2005, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518 "2005-06-02T07:32:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/1 "2005-06-02T07:32:03Z")
[Story](http://www.technewsworld.com/story/hardware/43450.html) The new version of Windows won’t include that incredibly annoying “My” prefix that started with (IIRC) the “My Computer” icon in Windows 95 and found its way into every goddamn business plan in the last 5 years. I’m tired of seeing “my phone”, “my cheeseburger”, “my beer bong”, “my adult diapers”, etc., wherever I look. Hopefully now that MSFT is dropping it, other will follow suit. ---
**Author:** ![Tuco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tuco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuco)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/2 "2005-06-02T07:38:11Z")
That’s good news. I’m just hoping when I say I want the language to be UK English, Windows is in UK English. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/3 "2005-06-02T07:55:46Z")
Or perhaps Windows **are** in UK English. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/4 "2005-06-02T08:47:54Z")
Is ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/5 "2005-06-02T08:59:41Z")
Good. I always hated it. Just too stupidly awkward to describe to someone on the telephone; “Now click on your My Documents folder” “I’m your what?” “Your My Documents folder” “I’m not your documents folder” “I didn’t say you were, can you just click on…” "Yes you did - you said ‘you’re my documents folder’ " ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/6 "2005-06-02T09:43:16Z")
Hopefully they’ll stop the magically re-appearing unnecessary folders. ‘My Music’? No, that’s somewhere else. ‘My Videos’? Ditto. ‘My Ebooks’? I don’t have any, so stop creating places to put them!!! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/7 "2005-06-02T10:38:36Z")
Actually, isn’t it possible to change these in, say, XP? - aren’t the names of the system folders stored in the registry somewhere? - I’d be really surprised if they’re hard coded. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/8 "2005-06-02T11:21:09Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Actually, isn’t it possible to change these in, say, XP? - aren’t the names of the system folders stored in the registry somewhere? - I’d be really surprised if they’re hard coded. They’re not hard-coded, and you can change them in the registry. I’ve done it. Unfortunately not all applications follow the rules and have been written by idiots who have the likes of “C:\Program Files” hard-coded into them. Or they create their _own_ references in the registry (because the system ones aren’t good enough for them) that you have to locate. But anyway, I was just on my way here to start a thread on this very same, joyous news! Hurrah! No more loathsome, cutesy ‘My’ labels!! No longer will computing feel like a struggle against a possessive four year old who is compelled to write “My” on everything in crayon. I am not four years old. If I wish to indicate my ownership of something I put my name (and sometimes even my postcode) on it. And do you know, when I see my name on something, I know it’s mine. And what’s even better, so does everyone else. And the same goes for all the other things that have been infected by the “My” plague. It’s like society has being regressing to the playgroup. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/9 "2005-06-02T11:27:16Z")
> [@Futile Gesture](#): > > They’re not hard-coded, and you can change them in the registry. I’ve done it. Trouble is with computers you don’t get to alter (i.e. at work!). It feels sooo stupid to be doing something serious and professional, with these bloody folders. > [@](#): > > Unfortunately not all applications follow the rules and have been written by idiots who have the likes of “C:\Program Files” hard-coded into them. Real Player gives me (harmless) disk-missing errors whenever I load it up - I can only assume it’s looking for the C drive, which doesn’t exist on my home computer. One of the systems at work insists on every folder being named exactly right - if it’s not “C:\IMAGEFOLDER”, it ain’t going to find all our pretty Jpegs. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/10 "2005-06-02T12:01:55Z")
Hm. I personally don’t much care what the name is–but the article seems to be indicating that those folders will still be there (and I fear that means that Explorer will continue to make its default opening location “My Documents”–which as a physical path is ten folders down and most of those use spaces. No I am not going to use that as my personal folder location, thank you.) ---
**Author:** ![rinni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f6c823/32.png) [@rinni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rinni)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/11 "2005-06-02T12:13:03Z")
They should change the “My” to “Frickin’”. Frickin’ Documents. Frickin’ Music. Frickin’ Pictures. That would make me giggle. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/12 "2005-06-02T12:18:12Z")
I heard as an urban legend that the only reason Microsoft put My in front of everything was to force developers to handle path names with spaces in them. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/13 "2005-06-02T12:20:00Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > I heard as an urban legend that the only reason Microsoft put My in front of everything was to force developers to handle path names with spaces in them. Wouldn’t “Program Files” be sufficient? ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/14 "2005-06-02T13:00:26Z")
Actually, Microsoft isn’t removing the “My” suffice leaving just Computer/Documents and so on; the “My” will be replaced by “Bill’s” or “1337 scr1pt k1d’s”, depending on if you remember to have the firewall on. 😃😃😉 ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/15 "2005-06-02T13:17:54Z")
I kind of liked the possessive modifier. It made me feel big and important. Many were the days I’d read the name of the virtual repository for my important files aloud and reply, “Yes. Yes, they are _my_ documents, and you’ll do well not forget it.” ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/16 "2005-06-02T13:24:37Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Good. I always hated it. Just too stupidly awkward to describe to someone on the telephone; > “Now click on your My Documents folder” > “I’m your what?” > “Your My Documents folder” > “I’m not your documents folder” > “I didn’t say you were, can you just click on…” > "Yes you did - you said ‘you’re my documents folder’ " thank you for a needed laugh this morning! ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/17 "2005-06-02T14:03:42Z")
My nomination for the most nauseating one: when “Network Neighborhood” was replaced with “My Network Places”. \ And maybe, possibly, just perhaps, Windows and MacOS will stop it already with the competition to out-Romper-Room each other? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/18 "2005-06-02T16:56:06Z")
I always rename ‘my computer’ as ‘my sharona’ and we name the home computers differently, my laptop is diogenese, the desktop is socrates for me, mrAru’s desktop is timmy [it is an aging compaq, so all we do is tell our geek roomie that timmy fell down a well and he comes and fixes whatever has gone wrong] and the geeks computer is named fang [but i dont know why he named it fang=(] ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/19 "2005-06-02T17:06:46Z")
Can I just mention here that Macs don’t have these issues? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518/20 "2005-06-02T18:07:49Z")
> [@Daithi Lacha](#): > > Can I just mention here that Macs don’t have these issues? 🙂 Grrr. No you may not! Anyway, my problem is the same one \*\*GorillaMan \*\* mentioned: I like to keep everything under my documents. I can make my own folders, thankyouverymuch. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-thank-god-microsoft-to-drop-the-my-prefix/306518.md?page=2)