Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!ll-xn!husc6!bloom-beacon!gatech!gitpyr!is813cs
From: is813cs@pyr.gatech.EDU (Cris Simpson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Setup Programs  (Was: Why Can't Microsoft Write Protect...)
Summary: Contrast Brief
Message-ID: <5854@pyr.gatech.EDU>
Date: 27 May 88 20:58:21 GMT
References: <33336@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com>
Reply-To: is813cs@pyr.UUCP (Cris Simpson)
Distribution: na
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology
Lines: 35

In article <33336@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com> tat00@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com (Tom Thackrey) writes:
>My own frustration with distribution disks are these brain-dead setup
>programs which 1) don't tell you what they're doing, 2) do non-obvious
>things, like modify config.sys, 3) force you to completely re-install
>the product to change the configuration, and 4) aren't as smart enough
>to replace the previous version of their product without leaving a lot
>of unused files around.
>I realize that the vendors are trying to make their products installable
>by neophytes, but, I'd rather deal with a complex procedure than a setup
>program where I can't see what is going on inside.



For a pleasant contrast, consider the SETUP program for BRIEF,
the Basic Reconfigurable Interactive Editing Facility (My vote for
best programmer's editor ever!).

You can run setup anytime and just change what you want. 

If what you change requires changes to config.sys or autoexec.bat, 
it prompts you to decide what to do: Update the file, Show the changes,
Write to another file, or abort the changes.    It even asks you what 
to do with the respective .bak files!   

I wish more SW publishers would use setup programs like this. But then,
I wish more SW publishers turned out SW like BRIEF.

Cris


-- 
||...despair! Despair I can handle, it's the hope...    J.Cleese,Clockwise ||
Cris Simpson
                  is813cs@pyr.gatech.edu               GA Tech      Atlanta,GA
...!{akgua,allegra,amd,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo,ut-ngp}!gatech!gitpyr!is813cs