Well, I hate to be negative about stuff, I really do, but I just can't help it. Having fought so many times with a lacking help system, I finally decided it was time to uninstall it. It's pretty useless to me as if I want MS docs I'll search for them on the net and they will be more up to date. So, I finally decided to go to Add-Remove Programs and Change the Rad Studio installation to remove those help files.
In doing so, I found out a few more things:
- Install-aware sucks even more than I thought! What used to be a few seconds on a decent installer takes over 6 minutes to do in this Install-Aware setup!
- They use a lot of progress bars but really show no progress: a blinking light would show the same information... At one point 2 were present at once and really I could be no closer or farther away from knowing how much more time I'd have to wait as they were file-based progress bars and not *process* based ones...
- What the heck is a "Cach"? As in "Removing Cach folder xxx"
- Shouldn't I get a more graceful message when pressing F1 on RAD Studio if I chose to remove the help files? (in a legitimate way and not hacking the files!)
And the message even shows in Portuguese even though my Windows and RAD Studio are both English...
- Finally, if I chose to remove the cached install files, what are 100 MB left there for?
This is all a nasty combo of a lousy installer with probably some lousy install scripts...
Q: Would I uninstall Delphi 2007?
A: Well, I've got used to it and it works well overall so most likely no, I'll keep using it. I just got fed up with the so labeled "Improved Help"... Pitty that MSFT set the road that others followed by releasing unfinished software...
For those who may not like me "bitching" about this: would you like to buy a car that "sort of works"? And that has to go through a few Service Packs before you really got what you're promised it would be before purchasing? I'm just applying the same principle to Software...
[EDIT: I've just "fixed" that error message: removed the htmlhelp2100.bpl (or something like that) from the known IDE packages so now pressing F1 silently fails. I'll probably try and find some replacement help files/reader as I vaguely remember something about using previous versions help files. Then I'll try downloading those help files from the customer area if it works! :)]
8 comments:
Try uninstalling Delphi, you will not believe how long it takes.
You could try the so-called LITE versions of Delphi/BCB 2007. Compared to the original Delphi installations, the Lite versions are blazing fast! And the installer sizes are also tiny, ranging from a mere 85 MB to 400 MBs. In fact, there is a BDS2007 floating around the net that combines both Delphi and BCB 2007!
Hi,
did you know about Delphi 7 help for BDS?
http://cc.codegear.com/Item/23948
twm
Thks Thomas: I downloaded the expert but I can't download the Delphi 7 updated help because I didn't register it on my account; at the time I used Delphi 7 it was when working on a software company so I used their copy.
I'm now pondering whether I should resort to piracy and download Delphi 7 from the warez sites in order to finally have decent help on my legitimately purchased Delphi 2007...
Let's all hope that Jim Douglas can make CodeGear better as we all need a better CodeGear, and let's hope it's not too late either...
Fernando,
We started ussing Installaware and I have to say that it's not a crappy thing. We use to install over 200 MB application and do it fine and in a record time.
The problem is the QA inside Borland, they can not solve the bugs and work in a hurry to publish their product and get revenue asap. The "quality" have been pass to a full of non finished feature product as is the new range of product from CodeGear.
Do not blame the installer, blame whom use the installer in the wrong way.
Anonymous,
actually I can confirm what Fernando says. InstallAware never worked for our company projects either. Simple jobs took ages and the patching functionality is just not working properly at all.
I don't know if I must blame it on InstallAware or CodeGear QA, but RAD Studio Install/Uninstall program is the silliest piece of software I've even seen in my life. 2 Hrs of uninstall + 4 hrs of installation. I'm off for one day and my projects are waiting because I had to reinstall RAD studio. For God's sake what can keep an installer busy for 5 hrs while all it must do is copying files from source and copy them to the destination plus some registry configuration and other tasks. It really really sucks.
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