User directory structures

Some OS's call them home or user home directories, document directories. Here's a quick guide to how different operating systems typically organize user directories.

Directory Type	Directory path returned for each operating system
User Home	Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<user> Windows Vista: C:\Users\<user> Mac OSX: /Users/<user> Linux: /home/<user>
User Desktop	Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Desktop Windows Vista: C:\Users\<user>\Desktop Mac OSX: /Users/<user>/Desktop Linux: /home/<user>/Desktop
User Documents	Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\My Documents Windows Vista: C:\Users\<user>\Documents Mac OSX: /Users/<user>/Documents Linux: /home/<user>
User Application Data	Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data Windows Vista: C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local Mac OSX: /Users/<user>/Library/Application Support Linux: /home/<user>
User Preferences	Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data Windows Vista: C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local Mac OSX: /Users/<user>/Library/Preferences Linux: /home/<user>
Public Documents	Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings \All Users\Documents Windows Vista: C:\Users\Public\Documents Mac OSX: /Library/Application Support Linux: /usr/local/
Public Application Data	Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\ All Users\Application Data Windows Vista: C:\ProgramData Mac OSX: /Library/Application Support Linux: /usr/local/
Public Preferences	Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\ All Users\Application Data Windows Vista: C:\ProgramData Mac OSX: /Library/Preferences Linux: /etc
System Libraries	Windows XP: C:\Windows\System32 Windows Vista: C:\Windows\System32 Mac OSX: /Library/Frameworks Linux: /usr/lib
Application Files	Windows XP: C:\Program Files Windows Vista: C:\Program Files Mac OSX: /Applications Linux: /usr/local/
Volume Root	Windows XP: C:\ Windows Vista: C:\ Mac OSX: / Linux: /
Temp	Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings \<user>\Local Settings\Temp Windows Vista: C:\Users\<user>\AppData \Local\Temp Mac OSX: /private/tmp/folders.501 /TemporaryItems Linux: /tmp

Thanks to National Instruments for the data.

See Wikipedia entries Home directory and My Documents. If you're in Java land, values of the os.name property are documented here and here.