Per user dirs on Non-Unix platforms (was Re: [Python-Dev] Where to install non-code files)

[Guido van Rossum] [...]

Modifyable data needs to go in a per-user directory, even on Windows, outside the Python tree.

Is there a reliable algorithm to find a "per-user" directory on any Win95/98/NT/2000 system? On MacOS? Idea: Wouldn't it be nice if the 'nt' and 'mac' versions of the 'os' module would provide 'os.environ["HOME"]' similar to the posix version? This would certainly simplify the task of application programmers intending to write portable applications. Regards, Peter