alt.hn

8/4/2026 at 3:46:49 AM

As a Windows user, it's a surreal way to install a program

https://unsung.aresluna.org/as-a-windows-user-its-a-very-surreal-way-to-install-a-program/

by allenc

8/4/2026 at 4:30:11 AM

I’ve always appreciated the effort and creativity developers put into making this a good experience, and a learning experience for new users. After all, you never know which app will be someone’s first install. A well made dmg was how I learned to install apps on OS X when I first moved to it 23 years ago.

Some developers have gotten lazy with this and expect users to just know. As a result I’ve seen many people running an app out of the dmg file itself for a long time, then they wonder why they have a bunch of stuff mounted.

by al_borland

8/4/2026 at 5:02:49 AM

Is the quote in the title a reference to something?

by smallerize

8/4/2026 at 5:03:53 PM

Yeah, it's about how Windows has .msi installers, whereas for MacOS it's a .dmg where you copy the exec binary (which itself is a folder) into the /Applications folder.

by allenc