Problem with Unzipping/Installing Python-2.3.exe

[John Latter]

> On 1 Aug 2003 15:06:20 -0700, sjmachin at lexicon.net (John Machin) wrote:
> 
> >John Latter <jorolat at msn.com> wrote in message news:<kjokivg3ptek5v2ueurba8k8c57vajm00l at 4ax.com>...
> >> Hi,
> >> 
> >> I downloaded Python-2.3.exe but when I used winzip it kept asking me
> >> if I wanted to replace old files with new ones, and in some instances,
> >> new files with old ones.
> >> 
> >> I've never downloaded/installed Python before, and as something of a
> >> computer novice, would like to know what I may be doing wrong!
> >> 
> >> This is the link I downloaded from:
> >> 
> >> >Windows users should download the Windows installer, Python-2.3.exe
> >> >, run it and follow the friendly instructions on the screen to complete 
> >> >the installation. 
> >
> >Faced with the 4 clues in the above sentence:
> >
> >(1) "installer"
> >(2) ".exe"
> >(3) "run it"
> >(4) complete absence of any mention of ".zip", "unzip", "Winzip", ...,
> >
> >my expectation would be that one should run the damn thing, not try to
> >unzip it.
> >
> >Do you feel that the instructions were unclear? Do you have any
> >suggestions on how they might be improved?
> >
> I guess for those who are rightfully afraid of any .exe's downloaded from the net,
> a parenthetic reassuring mention in the same paragraph that the MD5 digests and file
> sizes are displayed further down the page might be a small improvement. Then all you
> have to do is trust the folks that created installer and the files and web page

You're trying to make me look stupid.

The instructions would have been far clearer if they had said:

>Windows users should download the Windows installer, Python-2.3.exe
>, run it, but Whatever You Do DON'T UNZIP THE FREAKIN' THING - This Means YOU John Latter!, and follow the friendly instructions on the screen to complete 
>the installation.

To make the instructions even friendlier it would also help if "but
Whatever You Do DON'T UNZIP THE FREAKIN' THING - This Means YOU John
Latter!" were in large, bold, and underlined type.

And preferably a different colour.

I've reread what I've typed above and as far as I'm concerned its
close to being a literary masterpiece.

I rest my case 

--

John Latter

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism (based on an extension to homeostasis) linking Stationary-Phase Mutations to the Baldwin Effect.
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/TEM.html

'Where Darwin meets Lamarck?' Discussion Egroup
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evomech