I’m not suggesting getting rid of it; I just don’t think it’s worth pursuing trying to get it to a point of being fit for purpose for any purpose other than: pile of files of stuff.
No. The distinction is there to pander to some silly MacOS thing that I’ve never really understood.
But the forthcoming version comes really close to letting you put everything that matters into .materials alone, allowing one to simply ignore .inform. I have pleaded the case for bridging the gap to no further comment.