> Is this recommended from MS?  Other programs seem to ask for admin
> rights if you run them as non-admin.

Does this make them right and us wrong? Or are we just ahead of the curve
for wanting to provide a better end-user experience? The fact is most end
users don't care where the software sits, as long as when they click the
launch icon, it starts. UAC prompts are annoying and unnecessary for most
cases. If POV doesn't need admin rights to run, it shouldn't need them to
install, except in the case for an 'all users' installation.

The fact is Microsoft are moving away from the 'central installation
location' model. We have chosen to deal with that rather than fight it as I
don't want to have to re-write the installer in two years time. This is
volunteer work and I simply don't have the time or inclination.

I'm not saying my choice of exact default install location is right or
wrong. I am saying that my choice to install outside of program files - for
our application and in non-all-users mode - is neither incorrect nor
against proper practices.

The fact is Microsoft has left the 'proper' place for such installs to be
rather nebulous. Possibly I might change to the compatibility folder
location for program files, which would make it *look* like it's in program
files, even though it actually isn't ...

FYI if you look at Microsoft's 'Click Once' installation mechanism (which
is an alternative to MSI's for certain types of applications), you'll see
that they don't install into Program Files at all:

  http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/142dbbz4%28VS.90%29.aspx

Quote:

  The application is added to the user's Start menu and to the Add or
  Remove Programs group in the Control Panel. Unlike other deployment
  technologies, nothing is added to the Program Files folder, the
  registry, or the desktop, and no administrative rights are required for
  installation

This is the way they are pushing the industry, because the old model of
stuffing things into the registry and common file locations has shown, over
the years, that it is a liability. (We still use the registry, but
we aren't dependent on it - it's possible to run POV-Ray for Windows
without any registry entries, using the 'inferred install location' feature).

> Any reason why the default isn't in to program files in this case?

Just because someone is running elevated doesn't mean they want to install
for all users. It's not too hard to click the 'all users' radio button is
it? Sure, I could change the default, but is it such a big deal?

> Just trying to understand why POV feels the need to be different to what
> most people have grown to expect.

LOL, so we should stay the same forever? Expectations change, Microsoft is
driving this change, and as per usual, developers such as myself have to
take the flack from end-users who want to complain about it. It took me
some time to get around to fixing the installer so it worked under vista
*at all* (this was a total re-write using a new tool), so having done it
once, I don't want to do it again.

The fact is the installation model for windows is changing, if you don't
like it then by all means keep using outdated software or just don't use
POV-Ray.

Post a reply to this message