best downloading architecture - vote 1, 2, 3 or 4

[Richard Gaskin]

Josh Mellicker asked:

> What is your vote?
> 
> 1
> 2
> 3
> 4
> 5. none of the above


6: The application is installed with everything it needs to run. 
Updates can come in over the wire later, but once the installer has run 
it's ready to go, right then and there.  You'd be surprised how many 
folks download installers and run them later, and later might be on a 
train or a plane or a spaceship to Mars.  Why punish the affluent 
traveling customer when you could be catering to that desirable 
demographic instead, for the low cost of a convenient experience for 
everyone else.

When updates are checked, all user interface elements are able to be 
updated.  The splash screen is a user interface element, and as subject 
to change as anything else, so the only thing in the standalone is an 
error dialog which no one should ever see unless Something Very Bad 
happens during install, in which case the user won't be able to see 
anything other than the first card of the mainstack anyway -- might as 
well make it count.  If boot goes well I can hide that and move on to 
load the rest of the components.  No UI in the standalone means all UI 
can be updated.

I guess if this needs a name we could call it "Complete Install with 
Anchor Stack".

I'm sure there's a 7, 8, 43, 1544, and more, but #6 is just what I do.

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Media Corporation
  Developer of WebMerge: Publish any database on any Web site
  ___________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com       http://www.FourthWorld.com