Desktop problem

[JD]

  On 08/14/2010 07:34 PM, James McKenzie wrote:
> Thomas Cameron wrote:
>> On 08/14/2010 08:55 PM, JD wrote:
>>
>>> If you want to pick up onlythe dot files, then use
>>> .[a-zA-Z]*
>>>
>>> $ echo .[a-zA-Z]*
>>> .AbiSuite .adobe .alias .amaya .amazonmp3 .asoundrc .aspell.en.prepl
>>> I have a bazillion dot files in my home dir. I only copied and pasted a few.
>>>
>> Totally unnecessary, but if it makes you feel better, go for it.
>>
> Why do folks insist on using . files rather than making them visible?
> Makes troubleshooting hell.
>
> James McKenzie
>
I do not know the history of why they chose dot files AND make them 
invisible to the shell.
But one thought comes to mind is perhaps to make ls (without -a) present 
a less cluttered view?
Maybe someone with info on the first bell labs unix version 6 has more 
detailed knowledge of this.