[wxpython-users] [Fwd: Boa Constructor 0.6.1. beta?]

[Paul McNett]

Tim Roberts wrote:
>> The specifics are: Windows is still mired in DLL hell.  :) 
> 
> Not as long as people follow the rules.  An installer should never 
> delete a generic support file like msvcr71.dll once installed.  An 
> installer that does so is just as broken as a Linux installer that 
> deletes libxml2.so when it uninstalled itself, and causes just as much 
> damage.  In other words, it's not the operating system's fault.

Yeah, I already backtracked on calling this a case of DLL Hell.

> This perception of a continued "DLL hell" is exactly the reason why 
> Microsoft has foisted the baroquely complicated and entirely unnecessary 
> "side-by-side" concept upon us.  They apparently believe that the 
> developers of the world are too "stoopid" to follow the rules, when in 
> fact the great majority of developers knew out how to solve this problem 
> a decade ago.

The problem is, it only takes one misbehaving app to cause trouble for 
the whole OS and other apps. And unlike Unix development which is (I'd 
guess) mostly done by computer science students and graduates (IOW 
formal education), Windows development has been made easy and 
approachable by glitzy high-level tools. So it is really easy for 
someone, anyone, to build a shareware app, regardless of computer 
science education and appreciation.

Of course, the best practices in the Unix world have remained relatively 
stable over decades, which helps too. Microsoft only very recently 
started locking down the system and program directories, for example. :)

Paul