Thanks for letting us know about the alternative approach you've adopted.
Separating the jQuery.noConflict call from the main jQuery library itself is a good idea - makes it easier to wipe over previous copies of jQuery when upgrading to newever versions.
Also placing jQuery in the magento/js/ directory is good too. Although I'd stick to keeping custom jQuery code in the magento/skins/ directories as magento/js/ normally stores JavaScript libraries and widgets. Hence placing jQuery and any plugins into the magento/js/ directory is sensible but customisations for a specific website and presumably a particular theme should be stored in the skins directory, specific to the theme.
Thanks for letting us know about the alternative approach you've adopted.
Separating the jQuery.noConflict call from the main jQuery library itself is a good idea - makes it easier to wipe over previous copies of jQuery when upgrading to newever versions.
Also placing jQuery in the magento/js/ directory is good too. Although I'd stick to keeping custom jQuery code in the magento/skins/ directories as magento/js/ normally stores JavaScript libraries and widgets. Hence placing jQuery and any plugins into the magento/js/ directory is sensible but customisations for a specific website and presumably a particular theme should be stored in the skins directory, specific to the theme.
Thanks for the feedback!