A reminder of why I switched from XP to OSX

This eve, I was going to install the C&C3 Map Manager on my WinXP gaming PC to play some community created maps. Every time there’s a new Blizzard game, I’m wasting way too many hours on them and C&C3 Tiberium Wars is no exception… Anyway - I try to install the app, the install crashes and suggests I click the Details button. I once installed a beta .NET framework 2.0 and this is supposedly the cause. I try to uninstall it but get an error message with a long un-clickable link and then the uninstall fails.

Odd. I then try to uninstall the beta version of Microsoft Max that I once installed with the framework. When I try to uninstall this photo viewer, i get one of the wackiest popups I’ve ever seen. It says “If Microsoft Max is removed, these programs might not work properly. Do you want to continue?” and then displays a list of every single software installed on my computer. Supposedly, even the Flash Player Plugin could be affected by removing beta software from Microsoft.

Next, I run the uninstall again and type that long unclickable link from the error message into my browser to find that it’s really .NET 3.0 that is the problem? You gotta be kidding me. I have to uninstall .NET 3.0 to uninstall the 2.0 Beta? Well, that will certainly break an application or five? So - I’ll have to reinstall 3.0 afterwards. Did I mention that these installs require reboots? I bet this whole thing took me about an hour, just in figuring out the error and resolving it. Great way to spend your evening - you and WinXP in perfect disharmony…

On my Mac, some programs come with custom uninstaller software. These are the really complex ones such as Photoshop and Flash that put files into multiple locations. For all other programs, you just drag the App-icon into the trashcan and the app is gone. Isn’t that just beautiful? It just works…

BTW: I’ve recently read a few blog entries that indicate that there is a new generation of Mac users/switchers - the ones that have tried using Windows Vista 😉

Ohh! While I was typing this entry, DrWatson (the MS debug software) crashed while debugging the former attempts at uninstalling .NET 2.0 and it took the whole Windows GUI with it. Yet another reboot… Brilliant!