This could mean either they consume disk space, or they take up visual space when you list the directory.Īs far as disk space is concerned, on most installations of Mac OS X, space in /Applications is the same as space in any other directory: space on the primary system drive. You express your concern for removing the programs as connected to the fact that they 'take up space' in the /Applications folder. Once deleted, re-intsalling applications that are OS components is rather challenging. While you might think it is harmless to delete, say, Chess.app, and there is a good likelihood that you can delete it without adverse side effects, a future update to the operating system or a third-party program might rely on its presence for functionality.
Some of these live in /System or /Library, but some required parts of the operating system live in /Applications. Mac OS X includes various components that it expects to find as part of the operating system.
