HAL2007  You're right. Those files hold information about window placement, labels on files and the way window content is displayed (list, icon, columns).

Blue Harvest is mainly adressed to people that have windows servers. Windows people are often annoyed by those .DS_Store files that Mac OS X spreads everywhere. And on a windows server, you can't make real use of those settings anyhow. So why not force the system to simply not generate those invisble files on certain locations?

However, there are tools that do that for no money (Onyx, TinkerTool, and possibly more).

Blue Harvest gives more control about that, but this costs you extra.  
(Version 1.0.3)

MACONNECT  uh, as far as I know DS_store files do NOT store the icon position. In fact, this is a file property.  
(Version 0.8)

ALANR  I think his leading line

(What is a DS_Store/Resource fork (._) file?)

may be a little confusing.

That could read

"What is a .DS_Store or Resource Fork ._xxxxx file"

The most annoying gremlins are the ._xxxx files. You'll only get one .DS_Store per folder but one ._xxxxx file for each file.  
(Version 0.8.2)

PSEUDO TASUKI  Are you certain of that?

Can you provide a source?

That certainly does not make sense. The information she be stored either in the HFS+ extended attributes or the Spotlight database.  
(Version 1.0.2)

SJK  Yes, I'm certain. You can verify it yourself (as I did) by examining a .DS_Store file in any folder that contains files with Finder/Spotlight comments, then removing the .DS_Store and noticing the comments are gone (maybe not instantly due to caching; restarting Finder).

I don't know offhand where good sources of information about .DS_Stores files is but there's some in this excellent two-year-old Mac OS X Hints article:

Explaining the Finder's view options and toolbar visibility

I hope everyone creating utilities (like BlueHarvest) that delete .DS_Store files has at least that much understanding of their purposes. And I still feel that adequate warning might help people make more informed choices whether or not to delete them.  
(Version 1.0.2)

SJK  The URL was stripped from my reply. Here's another attempt:

www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20030305025744788

Otherwise, search for Mac OS X Hints for "view options toolbar visibility" to locate the article.  
(Version 1.0.2)

SJK  For related info, see the last paragraph of:

Mac OS X 10.4: How to prevent .DS_Store file creation over network connections

docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301711

... and follow the link to:

Mac OS X: Get Info Comments May Not Appear for Remote Volumes

docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107822  
(Version 1.0.2)

PSEUDO TASUKI  The second article you posted (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107822) contradicts your statements. It seems that the data exists both in the DS_Store file as well as the local Spotlight database. When editing the Spotlight comments on a remote file, the changes you make will ONLY apply on the local machine, regardless of the use of this software. If copying an entire folder, however, the DS_Store file will be transferred and the comments WILL appear on other machines.

Ironically, it seems that if you use this software to disable DS_Store files on remote volumes the Finder's behavior actually becomes more consistent!

I've verified that removing a DS_Store file causes the Spotlight comments to disappear from the get info window. The data is still searchable via Spotlight, however. It seems to me that this is actually a bug.

Hopefully Apple will sort this all out in the next version of OS X. The best course of action would be to stop using DS_Store files altogether and take advantage of the metadata capabilities of the filesystem.  
(Version 1.0.2)

SJK  Maybe there's a contradiction since my original comments didn't take any local vs. remote issues into account.

Anyway, thanks for the discussion. Maybe best to end here by saying we agree that .DS_Store files should somehow go away. Or, minimally, not be used for storing Finder/Spotlight comments because some users will delete those files and unwittingly wipe out the comments. That's the main point I wanted to communicate.  
(Version 1.0.2)

MITCH_DE  "Automatically remove ".DS_Store" files."

???? If you have an non HFS Volume you simple should not use such cleaning tools !

Because all will delete .DS_Store in which suche cosmetic things like folder icons are saved.  
(Version 3.0.2)

KOBALT  NOOTILUS, I don't know about v3.0.1 for which you wrote your comment, but v3.0.3 has an option to 'Allow disks to have custom icons'. That should at least solve your coloured folder problem.  
(Version 3.0.3)