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    Windows does have a single hierarchy under the hood, and it even has mount points, but it doesn't use them by default. Commented Oct 8, 2013 at 1:01
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    @Gilles not sure i understand. How attaching every driver to the "My Computer" root node is not using it by default? Commented Oct 8, 2013 at 6:20
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    That's the GUI presentation only. File paths don't use My Computer. Commented Oct 8, 2013 at 8:46
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    My Computer is the root node of the Shell hierarchy. it contains drives, if they have a drive letter, but also the control panel and any connected Windows Phone. The Shell hierarchy uses PIDL's instead of paths. Commented Oct 8, 2013 at 10:56
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    @gcb: the point is that the shell hierarchy is not directly usable in "normal" applications. You cannot call CreateFile passing "My Computer" or other shell folders; it's an abstraction understood only by shell-related code, all the kernel calls (and thus 90% of applications, since file management in most languages is implemented in terms of kernel file APIs) know nothing about this stuff. The shell folders are usable only when the programs use the "standard dialogs" (which do understeand the shell namespace) and only when selected files directly map to a "real" (=kernel-understood) path. Commented Oct 10, 2013 at 0:49