Re: Install/Uninstall issues (was RE: Missed an update.)

[Dov Isaacs <isaacs@xxxxxxxxx>]

Richard,

I think that in general, we are in very violent agreement!

With regards to an older version recognizing a newer version,
that would only apply if you force conventions to be observed
such that future versions in the registry would always be
recognized as such. Alas, marketing and other such "considerations"
yield situations in which that is unfortunately not always the case.

        - Dov


At 8/13/2003 02:43 PM, Richard Combs wrote:
>Dov Isaacs wrote: 
> 
>> As the person within Adobe who is best known INTERNALLY as the
>> "equal opportunity harasser of ALL Adobe product groups," let me
>> try to address your very insightful (maybe incite-ful as well)
>> comments!
><snip long and thoughtful response> 
>
>Dov, thank you for the detailed response. As usual, you provide a wealth
>of knowledge and insight. 
>
>You're absolutely right that an _older_ version shouldn't be expected to
>cope with all the possible variations in a _newer_ version. I knew
>better, and regret my carelessness in suggesting otherwise. 
>
>But, starting with Acrobat 4, the installer routine should have been
>able to recognize the Registry entries created by a _later_ version that
>it can't cope with. Every post-Win95 version of Acrobat identifies
>itself in a subkey under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe, and I'm sure
>future versions will do so as well (until MS discards the Registry db
>for something else entirely). So an installer can recognize a situation
>where it shouldn't proceed and give the user the appropriate
>explanation.  
>
>And the installer for a _newer_ version should be able to cope with any
>_older_ version. I agree with you about not permitting multiple versions
>of Acrobat. _But_, in that case, the install routine should uninstall or
>upgrade the older version without forcing the user to do anything more
>than, at most, respond affirmatively to a confirmation prompt.  
>
>I'm glad your "harassment" led to no more "bunny-stomping" in FM7 and
>PM7. But I consider the fix to be an improvement, but less than ideal.
>Why put the burden on the user unless you have to? The installer should
>be able to recognize which of 3 situations exists: (1) There's no
>Distiller, so go ahead and install it. (2) This version of Distiller
>exists, so don't install it. (3) Some other version of Distiller/Acrobat
>exists that it's not sure how to handle, so inform the user and leave it
>in their hands. 
>
>"It's my opinion and it's very true." ;-)
>
>Richard


** To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@omsys.com **
** with "unsubscribe framers" (no quotes) in the body.   **