[Qgis-developer] Windows Installation broken - and cannot uninstall

[Anita Graser]

Hi,

On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 3:26 PM, Alister Hood <Alister.Hood at synergine.com>wrote:
>
>  > Use the standalone installer, is less risky to have something get
> wrong.



> 2. Is it really so necessary to dissuade people from using the OSGeo4W
> "Setup"?
> - 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.
> - The OSGeo4W setup also provides easy access to other software you might
> want to use with QGIS (and nightlies in case you need them :) )
> - 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...)
>

+1 I always recommend OSGeo4W installer. It has many advantages over the
stand-alone installer.
Unfortunately, for many users, if something doesn't look like a "normal
setup.exe", they simply give up because it looks different.

Is there a way to make the installer look like any other setup tool on
Windows?


>
> > This is important for the QGIS project because the lack of good
> > installation/uninstallation procedures fuel the perception that Open
> Source
> > projects aren't serious contenders to the traditional commercial
> products.
>
> 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:
> - always install "setup" - make it a dependency of every other package.
> - 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...).
>

+1 for a new name instead of "setup". Maybe "OSGeo4W Manager/Center/...."


> - Relabel the three options in the first screen of the installer to
> explain more fully what each does.
> - Rewrite the explanation above these options - try and make it more
> concise so people read it and take it in.
> - Mention on the download page that you just run "setup" again to
> add/remove/upgrade/rollback something.  Maybe repeating this information
> here will help ;)
>

+1 That's easy to do, but we all know that people just don't read the
instructions ....


> Regards,

Anita
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