Quote:
Originally Posted by
mstone 
I have no idea what the .download file actually is. I am only suggesting that /tmp is being used because that is the way all other UNIX like OSs do it.
I just think it is a really bad idea because it makes OS X like a toy. Ok I'll say it - Steve would never have let this happen.
Ok, there have been a handful (if not more) of Easter eggs laying around in OSX for years. They all generally allude to the history of Apple or the history of the Macintosh. Why should this be any different? How can we possibly get into the head of the deceased Steve Jobs and say that he would never have let this happen? He supposedly let what I'm sure amounts to dozens of little jokes like this go though over the years. If this one thing makes OS X look like a toy...what about all the other previously mentioned jokes/Easter eggs?
Also, I may not have any idea what I'm talking about here, but it's my understanding that the .download file is simply a placeholder till the actual file/app is fully downloaded. There is essentially no reason to care what the date is for such a file. You can't really do anything worthwhile with the file so who cares? Also, if someone can access the file in the terminal, it's probably highly likely that they know that the file's date in Finder is a joke and not something to be confused about. The average consumer might not quite get the joke, but they also probably aren't sitting there looking for the .download file in the Finder anyway. They're probably happy enough seeing it in Launchpad as an icon with a progress bar under it which doesn't display a date. If by chance they did see the file in the Finder and saw the date, they might assume something is amiss, but beyond doing a Google search and finding it to be a joke, there isn't much they can do about it.
In other words: This is a non-issue.
