[Eric] Request: easier install process, please

[Arlo Belshee]

> In fact the installation procedure of eric is one of the easiest on this
> planet, it really doesn't get any easier than a simple command (possibly
> invoked as root).

On Linux, that may be true. It's certainly false on Windows.

1. I don't run as root (Admin). In fact, I run as a user without root
elevation privs. I simply don't need them. But I do need them to install
Eric. This means that I have to create a new user, switch, install Eric, fix
up paths, then delete the arbitrary user. I'd have to do the same for an
upgrade.

2. My other apps are installed by downloading one file and running it. It
can then uninstall, detect and recover from problems automatically, and
includes all of its dependencies.

3. My other apps' installers also include auto-update. I just say yeah, take
it, and then I'm up to date. It takes literally zero effort to get new
features.

4. My other apps don't affect any system location at all. I can do cleanbox
development with _exactly_ the same effort and approach as just installing
and using the app. Similarly, I can uninstall any of my other apps & they'll
clean out all dependencies - without destabilizing anything else on my
machine that happens to have the same dependencies.

5. While we're talking dependencies, I have no DLL hell problem - I can
update any dev library - including QT - for use on my real apps without it
even potentially affecting my installs of my other apps.

6. My other apps don't require separate downloads or invocations for
dependencies or "optional" features. They might ask me whether I want the
feature. Or they may just save me the trouble of answering pointless
questions before I know enough to answer them well, install it, and let me
remove it later (from inside the app) if I don't want it.

All of this comes for free from any msi installer. Thus, that's the hygiene
level on Windows. Any less than that is just frustrating.

If you want to have a nice install - one of the "best on the planet," then
you have to compete with those with a ClickOnce front-end to the msi. Then,
you just go to the page, click the run link, wait for the download, and the
app is running. After that, run from start menu or app search box. Never
think about app - or its upgrades - again.

And, of course, the whole thing is done securely, without forcing me to run
untrusted code (an install script) as root.

That's the experience I get with either Wing or Komodo. Heck, that's the
experience I get with a little crappy notepad replacement text editor.

My expectation is that from seeing marketing copy on the site to being
inside an installed app should take one click on a link, one confirm to the
browser ("yes, I really do want that installer"), and about 30 seconds.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, else. Certainly nothing that requires me to
take some action different from the way everything else is installed on my
platform.

Arlo