Distribution Used to Be Easy

Before Windows, the text mode environments of microcomputers made program distribution and installation painless. Many programs were compiled into a single file. At most, the installation routine would create a subdirectory on the user's hard disk and store the program there.

Today's graphical environments make the process much more difficult. A Windows program, for example, is not one file but a series of files that are to be installed in several places. System files (many with the extension .DLL) are often stored in the Windows directory, the program-related files go in their own directory, and several Windows bookkeeping entries must be made, such as modification of the Windows Registry (a repository of installed ...

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