Santo Replied on Config Hell:
"My take on this issue is that config files are used by .NET for .NET - they threw us developers a bone with the appsettings, but that's about it. I totally understand the .NET designer's worries about allowing programmatic write access to the config files - corrupting them could easily bring down the whole box, not to mention that the same file also holds security settings. If you want something which you have complete control over, do it yourself. It would have been nice to have gotten some basic tools for that, but hey- If BillG let me manage their development team for a day, that feature probably wouldn't have been high on my list. "
Hmm. Yep. I'll bite. But you have to wonder "Was it so hard to implement the appSettings tag to be used in a non-secured secondary config file? one that could be written to. This one can hold all your basic run of the mill settings. I'd hate to go back to the registry (unless I have to. Stil looking for a solution to manage multiple users easily without it) just because it's very easy to work with. I like my program keeping it's setting neat and tight - close to home and not creating garbage on the user's registry...