Why is "Program Files" two words? [closed]

Question

Is there a history, or a reason, for the fact that the Program Files folders in Windows installations have a space in the title?

Why wasn't it called Programs or Installations or something that's ONE word (command line access, hello)? It seems that there must be a good reason for this...does someone know?

Answer 1

Raymond Chen explains in this TechNet article that it was a voluntary decision:

• Programs are applications, seen as single units by the end users although they often consist of many files. They live in the Start menu, where they can easily be accessed, sorted, filtered, etc.

• Program files are the individual files making the programs. They're little more than implementation details, and the end users should not have to be bothered with them or even know they exist. Therefore, they live in a specific folder named Program Files instead of Programs.