Ah, ok… If I see that guy again, I’ll ask him how is he managing his Mozilla profiles via Active Directory. Maybe he found something better than these things. :)

Luke, I did have a look at some of those tools, years ago, and I try to keep updates on news there. Thanks for the links, though; nicely collected. The latest news about FFdeploy is dated somewhere 2005.
All of those tools more or less offer to deploy the software, but neither extensions nor configuration, apart from copying over something like user.js to a given directory. I can do that without any tools.
The nearest I’ve encountered is the CCK toolkit, written by a colleague at IBM.
I consider copying a preconfigured user.js not to be the best way; it tends to become incompatible over times in unpredictable ways.
My professional work is doing system management architecture (monitoring, inventory, software distribution), and I expect clear and concise CLIs or APIs to configure applications. It’s ok if it only means a CLI for setting a given configuration option, but it should save me directly manipulating a more-or-less undocumented config file. Copying over a file means I always have a potential conflict with changes done by the application internally.

[quote comment=”8107″]Ok, now just check this box labeled “Don’t install no toolbars”

HA! That was a double negative! So it means you WANT me to install the toolbar! I’m installing it! HAHAHAHAHA![/quote]
You just know it will boil down to this some day… :P

Yeah, I love these bundling deals some of these companies have.

Hey, I’m gonna install this Fabulous Super Search Toolbar for you!
No? Ok, then how about Google Toolbar?

Don’t want that either? Btw, did you know that Fabulous Super Search Toolbar offers following list of benefits that we just made up on the spot?

No? Ok, then your loss. But hold on for a second! We extend to you the special ONCE IN A LIFETIME OFFER to install Fabulous Super Search Pro++ Toolbar for absolutely no cost to you!

Oh come on! It’s Free!

Freeeeeee!

Ok then. I promise not to install the toolbar if you scroll all the way down and click the tiny checkbox labeled “I do not accept”

Ok, now just check this box labeled “Don’t install no toolbars”

HA! That was a double negative! So it means you WANT me to install the toolbar! I’m installing it! HAHAHAHAHA!

One thing that really irks me during installation is that if you’re not paying attention to the questions in each step, you might find that your homepage will be changed, and some funny toolbar will be installed with it, place a shortcut in your “startup” folder, etc.

Some even condescends you when you specifically choose NOT to install these optional components:

[x] YES! Install this toolbar and take advantage of this SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION ONE TIME offer! (checked by default)
[ ] No, I am not willing to be part of this fantastic bargain. (in small font size -4)

Some installers makes it hard for you to deselect such atrocities. Yahoo messenger installer comes to mind here. Took me a while to find that damn “Custom Install” link.

But usually, this only happens for freeware.

[quote post=”2291″]I am so annoyed that my favourite tools FF and TB (and lots others) are not remotely or CLI-based configurable, i.e. set the proxy, configure add-ons etc. This effectively makes them company-unusable (think domain policies).[/quote]

Funny you say that because I talked to a sysadmin recently who actually raved at length how easy it was to deploy and manage Firefox profiles via Active Directory.

I didn’t think to ask at the time what was his methodology but apparently there are few dozen tools to do this nowadays.

silent installation is one thing I always look for, but it needs to also allow *configuring* the application. I am so annoyed that my favourite tools FF and TB (and lots others) are not remotely or CLI-based configurable, i.e. set the proxy, configure add-ons etc. This effectively makes them company-unusable (think domain policies).
For MSI packages silent installation can even be augmented by deploying additional patch files (MSP, MST), or directly manipulating the MSI.

[quote post=”2291″]“Hrm… I need to mark foo. Oh, and foo-console. And better get foo-fortunes, just for laughs. Hrm, -bar- is recommended, might have to do an additional search for that”.[/quote]

This is why I use apt-get or aptitude actually. Much quicker than messing around with the GUI.

That said, I kinda like the automatic updates manager thing that pops up in my new Gutsy install from time to time.

The lists are a little linux-skewed, but managed package installs are easier, I’ll agree. No EULAs, no asking ‘where do you want this file’, though if the package isn’t managed, you’re likely to run into both (vmware installer, anyone?)

Some of the steps on the windows list aren’t ubiquitous (quickbar) and others are commonly desired tasks (desktop shortcut).

The one that I really noticed, though, was choosing program components, which you definitely do need to do in synaptic, sometimes you don’t even know you need those extras: “Hrm… I need to mark foo. Oh, and foo-console. And better get foo-fortunes, just for laughs. Hrm, -bar- is recommended, might have to do an additional search for that”.

I do rate package management better than windows installers, but they experience different problems.

[quote post=”2291″]Even better would be if everything was more along the lines of a portable application – you run the “installer” (really just an unpacker) and get a self contained folder containing an executable, whatever data the program needs and a Settings folder.

Uninstallation = delete said folder.[/quote]

Unfortunately, this is never really this simple. Even on Linux or Mac you end up with shared dependencies, various system hooks and etc. Some apps need to run as a service/daemon, some may need special configuration, some may need to intercept some system calls to work.

Having a single click install/uninstall procedure is just as intuitive. :)

[quote post=”2291″]I like the Linux way of doing things, but the one change would be to have a specific folder in my user directory that settings go into rather than having them in the user directory itself.[/quote]

Meh.. I’m used to it. The dot files are invisible anyway so you don’t really need to worry about them until you need them.

[quote post=”2291″]BTW Luke, the Ubuntu installation progress you describe it’s the same for almost all other distros all around (or at least for Debian and its derivatives), why just Ubuntu? If I was you I used the word Linux, not Ubuntu. [/quote]

I guess Ubuntu just felt more specific. The word Linux encompasses all the distros some of which do not use package management systems like apt. So I figured it’s better to be specific. :)