Apple's installers are awful!

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
When iLife first came out, I downloaded the free iPhoto and iMovie from Apple's site. Later, when newer iMovie updates became available, I installed them.



Finally, today, I decided to buy iLife so I could upgrade to iDVD 3. I put in the DVD, go through the install, choose the partition I want to install on.... and then the installer informs me it has detected newer versions of the software and refuses to install.



Why in the world didn't Apple make the installer first ask me what I want to install, before checking the versions of all apps it could possibly install? I didn't want to reinstall iMovie, iTunes, or iPhoto... just iDVD.



If I wasn't technical enough to figure out where software update keeps its receipts (and move that directory temporarily), I'd be extremely pissed at Apple right now. Instead, I did move the receipt directory, and the install proceeded nicely (I was then allowed to tell the installer I only wanted to install iDVD).



Arg! Think first, then code, Apple!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    nebagakidnebagakid Posts: 2,692member
    Isn't there a "Custom Install" option for iLife?
  • Reply 2 of 3
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    The most awful thing is that there's an installer at all. Why Apple went to all this trouble to give us a platform with drag-and-drop installation, only to leave it to third parties, is beyond me.



    Apple: Get past the private system frameworks addiction, already. And retrain the installer writers who can't even figure out how to get the installer to ask the filesystem where an app is located. It's all possible, even *gasp* Mac-like!
  • Reply 3 of 3
    foadfoad Posts: 717member
    I know this is probably better to be in the Genius Bar but someone brought up the topic of installers here so I thought I might ask.



    Now sometimes I have external drives or network drives mounted. When I run a installer and it starts scanning drives, is there a way for it to not scan drives besides just the install drive? I mean, it can take a little while to scan 2 500GB network RAIDs for stuff during installation.



    Sorry for the somewhat off topic post.
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