Replacing a running executable isn't possible under Windows (and probably some other systems); you'd need to spawn a second process that waits for your process to die, replace the executable, and then relaunch the application.
Possible, but a lot harder than doing it the Linux way.
As a practical matter, many applications span multiple directories, so there is not just one file to delete. If the app, is simple enough, though, sure -- just replacing the executable can work.
Some examples of apps spanning many files and directories are configuration files, cached data, and plugins. For uninstallation, much of that stuff should definitely be deleted; for upgrades, there are occasionally conflicts which installer systems can help to manage (though, often enough, they can only do part of what needs to be done).
You can, but personally I think having to seek out some website when there's an update gets old pretty fast. And updates are important for security reasons.
The comparison is fatuous. If your mates had names and there was a button on your phone, one for each acquaintance by name, you wouldn't need a way of looking them up.
BTW I also worked on a small in-house system that was just a run-it-from-the-desktop install (aka xcopy install) and it worked perfectly. Boss insisted we needed a "proper" installer so I tried the installer-maker provided by MS. Jesus what a fucked-up mess that made of the whole process, a day of trying to get that working (while it sprayed guids and subdirectories everywhere and could't even uninstall what it installed) and I gave up.
I also have a fun story of an MSSQL uninstall that went wrong on a live server.
executive summary is that xcopy installs work very well IME.
> If your mates had names and there was a button on your phone, one for each acquaintance by name, you wouldn't need a way of looking them up.
Which you realistically don't, hence the point of the comparison.
> executive summary is that xcopy installs work very well IME.
The point isn't the initial install, it's the subsequent lookups (including update, uninstallation, etc.) when you have a bunch of programs to deal with. When you're dealing with 1 program, you can treat it like your pet. But when you're dealing with 50, you can't do that anymore. You need to realize you have cattle and adjust accordingly.
Phone numbers are nothing like programs. The comparison is false.
> The point isn't the initial install, it's the subsequent lookups (including update, uninstallation, etc.).
Well perhaps, but if you can delete a program by literally deleting the file, and update it literally by replacing it then you are onto a good thing - unix-like simplicity. Dependencies may be a problem, or not.
> Phone numbers are nothing like programs. The comparison is false.
That wasn't the comparison in the first place.
Finding the location of the program and its uninstaller is very much like an address or phone number lookup. Updating it is like updating an address book. And you need a database to maintain it all and find what you need, and something has to update that database. That's one major thing an installer does.
