----- Original Message ----- From: "Philip S Tellis" philip@konark.ncst.ernet.in To: linuxers@mm.ilug-bom.org.in Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2002 3:19 PM Subject: Re: [ILUG-BOM] Linux vs Windows as my selection.
install *all* required libraries as well. This is why windows installables are so huge. If they don't install everything, you will always have some document mentioning what you need to install first, and sometimes you will get a prompt while installing. This already happens in linux.
The windows installables have "all possible libraries" that may possibly be required in any version of windows that the software supports. But the windows installer is designed to check out the libraries existing on your windows system and install only those that are not there or where the existing library is of an older version.
By having more libraries in the installer, they face fewer situations (at least in theory) where the software will fail to work The scenario of the documentation providing for you to install other libraries first would either be where it works with a completely differnet software (like a backend database support) or where the developer has been careless or too lazy to modify his installation package to do it for the user.