http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=19182
--- Comment #10 from Austin English austinenglish@gmail.com 2009-08-14 16:08:48 --- (In reply to comment #9)
Since I updated to version 1.1.27, even though the environment variable is still set, wine now creates mime types again - so that, for example, when I click on an .inf file, it no longer opens in my favourite editor (Kate) but it asks which application to use for that file.
I've noticed something similar. I've disabled it, but nautilus is still trying to open some files in windows apps. If they're old associations I haven't reset, or new ones that slipped by, I haven't checked.