For example, if I were to break up applications in such a way that games go to C:\Games\, development ones go to C:\Dev and etc, is this wise?
I know that it can be done and is quite a common practice, but what I'm wondering is, taking security and compatibility into view, is this still a good practice? For example, the default 'Program Files' folder has a different set of permissions such that programs require admin privileges to write to the directory when UAC is running. As for compatibility, what's the prevalence of badly written programs having a hardcoded install/look up path failing to work?
Also, what if I lumped 32-bit and 64-bit applications together, instead of separating them out as window does with two different installation paths? Will I induce problems with programs looking up and loading wrong dlls?