Why can't Kyma 7 folder be placed on Macintosh first order hierarchy as Kyma X was?

Question

During download procedure, why is it that the Kyma 7 folder (not the application) has to be placed in the home (Macintosh HD/users/user name/Kyma 7) folder or other folder, rather than, as in Kyma X, on the first order hierarchy (Macintish HD)?  This complicates things, since it involves stepping through a bunch of Finder hierarchies to find the Kyma 7 folder. I'm not talking about the Kyma 7 application, which works fine as it used to, being installed in the Applications folder.

Answer 1

On UNIX alike operating systems like OS X the home (or user) directory is the place where you have read AND write access by default. The OS X operating system has been through a lot of changes when it comes to security and the files system. If Symbolic Sound wants to follow Apples guidelines to avoid trouble for the useres with future Apple security updates and changes regarding the rights management the /Users/username/  is one of the correct places to put the files for an default installation. The other place for a "system wide" installation for all standard users would be /users/Shared.

The old version of Kyma did allow the Kyma X folder anyway accessible for the current user in the system. This was back then allowed for all third party application since there was no clear guideline back then.It was Apples only OS X specific solution to be compatible with the realy ancient rights management used in previous Macintosh operating systems and the OS 9 compatibility mode (classic support). On other Unix operating system like FreeBSD, Linux etc. the directory structure was layed out more transparent from the start.

In the internet age where almost every application needs to connect to a remote server etc. a strong security is much more important then back then so is a good and transparent directory structure. Apple and Microsoft regognized this and have made some changes already (mostly resctrictions).

Anyway SSC might have their own reasons in addition to that.

I personly would suggest to put an "Alias" or symbolic link (in the terminal) wherever you had located your old Kyma X folder and point that Alias/SymLink to the new Kyma 7 folder as a kind of shortcut or reminder.

I hope that helps a little bit.

Best

Chris