<font>Hi,<br></font><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 3:26 PM, Alister Hood <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:Alister.Hood@synergine.com">Alister.Hood@synergine.com</a>></span> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
> Use the standalone installer, is less risky to have something get wrong. </blockquote><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
2. Is it really so necessary to dissuade people from using the OSGeo4W "Setup"?<br>
- It is much quicker and easier. E.g. when a new version of QGIS is released you only need to click through setup again to update. You don't need to go to the QGIS website, download a new installer (which will waste time and bandwidth because it is bigger - especially since it includes GRASS, which many people would never use), run the installer, and separately run the uninstaller for the old version.<br>
- The OSGeo4W setup also provides easy access to other software you might want to use with QGIS (and nightlies in case you need them :) )<br>
- I'm not convinced the OSGeo4W installer is very risky. Are people having problems with it without doing an "advanced install" and choosing weird things? IMO the only good reason for recommending the standalone installer is that OSGeo4W doesn't provide ECW libs (but the standalone installer isn't actually respecting the license on these, anyway...)<br>
</blockquote><div><br></div><div>+1 I always recommend OSGeo4W installer. It has many advantages over the stand-alone installer.</div><div>Unfortunately, for many users, if something doesn't look like a "normal setup.exe", they simply give up because it looks different. </div>
<div><br></div><div>Is there a way to make the installer look like any other setup tool on Windows?</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
> This is important for the QGIS project because the lack of good<br>
> installation/uninstallation procedures fuel the perception that Open Source<br>
> projects aren't serious contenders to the traditional commercial products.<br>
<br>
I believe the OSGeo4W installer is a much better system than a standard Windows installer. But maybe its labelling and public profile could be improved. Some possibilities:<br>
- always install "setup" - make it a dependency of every other package.<br>
- change the label of "setup" in the start menu to something which makes it really obvious that this is how you add/remove/upgrade/rollback packages. (Note that this is explained on the first page of the setup program. If people choose not to install the standalone package recommended for beginners, and don't bother to read the instructions in the OSGeo4w installer, well...).<br>
</blockquote><div><br></div><div>+1 for a new name instead of "setup". Maybe "OSGeo4W Manager/Center/...."</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
- Relabel the three options in the first screen of the installer to explain more fully what each does.<br>
- Rewrite the explanation above these options - try and make it more concise so people read it and take it in.<br>
- Mention on the download page that you just run "setup" again to add/remove/upgrade/rollback something. Maybe repeating this information here will help ;)<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>+1 That's easy to do, but we all know that people just don't read the instructions ....</div>
<div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
</blockquote></div><div>Regards,<br></div><div><br></div><div>Anita</div>