Installation Locations and Movement

[efoto]

This is my first Mac so I have slowly been learning things and am finally starting to move around in OSX with a touch of confidence. I thing I was really wondering about though:

I downloaded Firefox and installed into the Apps folder on my HD. I was just curious if there would be any issues with me moving it into another folder.

Win equivalent for my sake to get my idea across - Install word.exe to C:\Programs....cannot move it to C:\Word\word.exe without reinstalling it, does not automatically run from new drag-n-drop location. Does a Mac function the same way or can I move the program's icon to another place and still have it work fine?

 

[kewpid]

Yep, the application package can be moved anywhere you want it. But why wouldn't you want to keep Firefox in the Applications folder?

 

[superbovine]

Everything in the Application folder with an icon is a folder. If you are using a two button use right click on an icon or use ctrl-click then "Show package content" then you can see the contents of the folder. So you can move the icon (which is a folder) anywhere around and it will work properly.

 

[Bear]

Some Applications expect to be in /Applications

Anything delivered as part of Mac OS X has to be in /Applications or updates will not work correctly.

 

[efoto]

Alright, so it would not be a good idea to move say iPhoto into the pictures directory (not that I would want this, just ex).

So since this is not windows (loving what I have learned already) I do not have to reinstall it if I choose to move the folder (icon) around?

Thanks again.