RedHat, Fedora future?

[Adam Cooper]

>From the Red Hat 9 "Getting Started Guide" Appendix D:

/usr/ - Contains files and directories directly relating to users of the
system, such as programs and supporting library files

/opt/ - Directory where optional files and programs are stored. This
Directory is used mainly by third party developers for easy installation
and un-installation  of their software packages.

I thought that makes their stance (as in Red Hat) pretty clear. 

I'm pretty new to this. Is this a non-standard way of doing thing then?

Adam Cooper