4.2 Jellybean now supports multiple users. However as per the docs, all calls to all the APIs to get storage location return locations private to the current user (eg: getExternalStorageDirectory()).
I cache plenty of content from servers and store this to external storage, but with a multi user enviornment, this data will need to be duplicated for all users. This is wasting a lot of space.
Is there any way to store files to a common area for all users to make use of?
Apparently not, according to the release notes:
No matter which of these APIs you use to save data for a given user, the data will not be accessible while running as a different user. From your app’s point of view, each user is running on a completely separate device.
I hope I'm wrong because I have the same problem as you.
I appreciate that it would have been a potential security hole, but if I saved files in the folder returned by getExternalStoragePublicDirectory, I would have only myself to blame.