diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/__init__.py b/src/calibre/gui2/__init__.py
index 414209a142..41bf0b23e6 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/__init__.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/__init__.py
@@ -746,7 +746,7 @@ def choose_osx_app(window, name, title, default_dir='/Applications'):
         return app
 
 def choose_files(window, name, title,
-                 filters=[], all_files=True, select_only_single_file=False):
+                 filters=[], all_files=True, select_only_single_file=False, default_dir=u'~'):
     '''
     Ask user to choose a bunch of files.
     :param name: Unique dialog name used to store the opened directory
@@ -759,7 +759,7 @@ def choose_files(window, name, title,
     :param select_only_single_file: If True only one file can be selected
     '''
     mode = QFileDialog.ExistingFile if select_only_single_file else QFileDialog.ExistingFiles
-    fd = FileDialog(title=title, name=name, filters=filters,
+    fd = FileDialog(title=title, name=name, filters=filters, default_dir=default_dir,
                     parent=window, add_all_files_filter=all_files, mode=mode,
                     )
     fd.setParent(None)
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/open_with.py b/src/calibre/gui2/open_with.py
index 1b7b28dc5f..5c4f18165e 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/open_with.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/open_with.py
@@ -192,7 +192,9 @@ else:
         ans.setToolTip(comment + _('Command line:') + '\n' + (' '.join(entry['Exec'])))
 
     def choose_manually(filetype, parent):
-        ans = choose_files(parent, 'choose-open-with-program-manually', _('Choose a program to open %s files') % filetype.upper(), select_only_single_file=True)
+        dd = '/usr/bin' if os.path.isdir('/usr/bin') else '~'
+        ans = choose_files(parent, 'choose-open-with-program-manually', _('Choose a program to open %s files') % filetype.upper(),
+                           select_only_single_file=True, default_dir=dd)
         if ans:
             ans = ans[0]
             if not os.access(ans, os.X_OK):