[Qgis-user] QGIS instalation and uninstallation issues

[Ramon Andiñach]

Just for a bit of background on these comments.
1. At work, I have no viable option but to use windows (really). At home I will use anything but windows.
2. So I'm a user, but one that is prepared to play around a bit.
3. I'm cherry picking some comments out. For context please go back and read the tread.

On 17/07/2015, at 02:46 , Anita Graser wrote:
> ​I run QGIS on Win7+8 wit OSGeo4W and on Ubuntu. In my opinion, the Windows solution is almost easier to handle that the repos on Ubuntu. Thanks Jürgen and whoever else is involved!
+1. Even +2?
I'll also support the easier to use comments. In both the OSGeo4W and ubuntugis repositories it is possible to get situations where there are mismatches between qgis and the libraries. It is much simpler to fix this in OSGeo4W.

> I might even go as far as say that it might be worth considering dumping the stand-alone installer if it causes more issues than it's worth.
-1

Basically for the following reasons:
On 17/07/2015, at 19:50 , Randal Hale wrote:
> The standalone is too important to new inexperienced users. The people I met and teach this software too generally get confused by the OSGEO4W installer. I know it's not that hard to grasp - but it's different enough. I encourage use of the OSGEO4W installer - but the standalone wins almost every time for them. 
[snip]

> On 07/17/2015 04:17 AM, Nathan Woodrow wrote:
>> The standalone is the same package as the osgeo4w one. Same layout same software.


On 17/07/2015, at 18:30 , Nathan Woodrow wrote:
> Dropping the standalone doesn't solve this issue and the standalone is used by people that need to do offline installs as it contains a all in one package ready to go.
(I'll note here that although I live in a country with really high internet usage and coverage (98%* if you believe one of our providers), I'm routinely out of any form of internet coverage (min 2-3 times a week - because the asterisk is "of the poplation" not "of the country"). It is still important to me that things work with out the internet.)

I'll also expand on the inexperienced user bit. Packages are just not part of the windows culture. You have an installer, and click next (way too many times) and then you have software. Inkscape does this. LibreOffice (at least for english speakers) does this. Even FSF supported things like the GIMP and GnuCash can manage this.

I have managed to get other windows only users hooked on QGIS. For all of them it's been their first experience of FOSS. A big part of it working was that getting the software onto the computer was familiar, and the learning curve didn't start until the software opened.



On a different angle.
For me QGIS works 98/99% of the time. Mostly the problems I have are not installation related - I think? I've had to do do a clean up of the registry once since 1.5.
As a confirmed tinkerer, I do use the OSGeo4W installer - but less than I used to. Here's why.
1. Any configuration/registry error you've had with the standalone, can and has happened with OSGeo4W installers.
2. I usually have the qgis and qgis-dev installed at the same time. Usually I'd use qgis, but if they're both installed from OSGeo4W and say gdal and qgis-dev updates, you could get a stranded qgis until it's rebuilt. So it's either downgrade (which can be tricky) or be patient. 
I've taken a suggestion from this list and now use the standalone for qgis and OSGeo4W for qgis-dev.

On another angle.
This effectively being a support list is not going to provide a fair/unbiased sample.

-ramon.