"Raab, Andreas" wrote:

> Seriously, you don't quite seem to realize what the intended audience of
> Squeak is.

Squeak -- as it stands -- is a programming language. It is sufficiently
difficult
to figure out that I would expect that anyone able to get anything out of it
would be able to follow simple directions to install.

Under Windows, for instance, a self-extracting ZIP archive should be sufficient.

Installation instructions (on a web page):

* click _here_ to download. When your browser pops up a dialog box, either
choose
to save the file (remembering where you saved it, of course), or choose "run
from
its current location"

* If you saved the file to disk, use the Windows Explorer to locate the file.
Then double click on the file's icon to start the extraction process (or single
click, if you've turned on the annoying 'view as web page' stuff in Explorer).

* Change the name of the directory where you want Squeak installed if you don't
like the default of "c:\program files\Squeak".

* click on the "OK" button. The files will be extracted.

* use Windows Explorer to navigate to the directory you installed into

* double click on the Squeak! icon in this directory to start.

* If you want, you can right-button-drag the Squeak! icon to the desktop and
choose "create shortcut".

Now, I agree that this is too many steps for the user of a Squeak APPLICATION;
those of us making apps with Squeak should try for a simpler installation
procedure.

But I don't think that the above would be too out of the ordinary (sadly) for a
Windows user capable of using a programming language.

Existing installer applications are mostly platform-specific. I've used a
shareware
installer program to put out Windows shareware before. Microsoft is giving away
Windows Installer for W95/W98, NT4, and Win2000; I suspect that the Visual
Studio
tools as well as others will generate Windows Installer packages. Having a
Windows
Installer (.MSI) based install is a requirement for Win2000 logo certification;
however, Squeak probably doesn't need that (yet).

-- 
Ned Konz
currently: Stanwood, WA
email:     ned at bike-nomad.com
homepage:  http://bike-nomad.com