I’ve thought about this idea too (briefly), in that my conclusion was that all of an app’s external files owned by it should be stated in a resource file; i.e. Info.plist. This might mean that applications might need to follow the recommended guidelines for external support files more closely (I’m looking at you, Microsoft Word).
Basically, the format goes: preference files in ~/Library/Preferences/, only app (non-user) centric stuff goes in here so it doesn’t matter if it gets deleted; support files in ~/Library/Application Support/, used for templates, plugins, global resources that the user can delete if they wish, and automagically saved data that is not managed by the user as external document files (e.g. contact list in Adium, messages in Mail, media in iTunes, bookmarks in Safari (although Apple like to have their own spot in the root part of the library for their apps)). Applications need to conform to this for it to work.

With assistance from the apps, I think this could be used for not only in uninstallation, but archival (backup) or portable purposes too.

Trash Triggers would not complicate OS X. They only automate a cleanup process that should make things easier for people, and are no more complicated than the current process because the process can require no input from the end user and is automatic.

Perhaps the complication that you see is because I’ve confused you with the discussion on how a developer could set up a trash trigger to clean up. Once again, that is not for the end user to be concerned about – if you aren’t a developer, then don’t worry about that “complication”.

Once again though, I appreciate your thoughts.

Jamie

Its simple and effective enough as it is, stop trying to complicated osx