Distributing on CD for Windows users

[Barry Levine]

I've run into that killer "read-only" problem where I've burned a CD 
with the Rev distribution and then copied the files and app back to a 
PC hard disk only to find that the files (which could be written to on 
the original PC) are unusable (because I can't save to them anymore). 
Note that this is not the "can't write to the app's mainstack" issue 
(which is not an issue when you understand how to deal with it).

I remember some discussion about this on the list but a search hasn't 
revealed the definitive answer.

However, I have tried something which seems to work fine and I'd like 
to run it by the listas for a second (and third) opinion:

I am using DropZip (part of the Stuffit Deluxe package on my Mac) to 
compress the distribution folder into an archive and burn that archive 
to the CD. Then, moving to the PC, I open that archive using the WinZip 
program (or whatever it is on XP that can open that zip file) and drag 
the application folder from the zip file to the user's Desktop.

I realize that I can't do this manually for every user (as we hope to 
sell this program to lots of people) so I will have to use whatever 
automatic installer is recommended. I also have found that a W2K PC 
into which we had attempted to install the program had nothing on it 
that could deal with the zip file so I need to include some kind of 
"unzipping" engine. So, two questions:

1. Is the process I describe an good method of dealing with the 
read-only problem? (If not, I will entertain alternatives.)

2. Would the proper long-term solution be something like "Install 
anywhere"? I plan to distribute to both Macs and PCs.

The users who would be purchasing the program are K12 teachers who, as 
we all know, can not be relied upon to manage a geeky installation.

Thanks very much.

Barry