> > No kidding! Easy installation is the MOST important feature in getting > people to adopt your software. (and this is a nightmare for those of us > trying to promote Java). >
Yeh, I'm sick of trying to explain to my clients why they need to patch their SGIs to use our app even though the installer window says "InstallAnywhere" on it... and that the fact that the JVM core dumps when they don't install patches first isn't our fault, or even Sun's fault, but SGI's fault, and that, no, you do have to apply the patch and no I can't develop a workaround to the bug in SGI's native binding to Motif........ arrrrrg!!! Now whenever I say the words "Java" and "install" in the same sentence I get a dirty look. :-( I don't know about you guys, but my clients have to jump through 40 bureaucratic hoops in their organizations just to download a file, let alone upgrade or install Java, patch their system, install the latest OpenGL, install Java3D, etc., etc. ANYTHING I can do to cut down on the work they have to do to use our application makes them happy and me a hero. Conversely, if they go through all 40 hoops and something craps out, even if it is out of my control (e.g. JRE 1.3 requires patch number xyz to work), they think I'm satan incarnate. If WebStart (or whatever Sun's installation stategy du jour is) actually worked for extensions, handled JVM upgrades and version detection, and installed without Administrator/root password, then the platform will go a long way toward wider adoption. Is Java a) part of the OS, or b) part of each user's runtime environemnt, or c) part of the browser, or b) & c)? My answer now would be "It depends", which reallllllly makes it hard to deploy multiple platforms (Win32, Solaris, IRIX and HP-UX in my case). Granted there's nothing Sun can do about bad drivers or bad JVM ports (other than improve their certification tests), but there is definately a need to nail down the deployment strategy for client-side apps and start thinking about end users (and the developers who have to support them)... Phew. Sorry for the rant; but I figure someone out there has been in the same boat... Simeon =========================================================================== To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and include in the body of the message "signoff JAVA3D-INTEREST". For general help, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and include in the body of the message "help".
