What to do? MS-C# or LINUX?

[KKW]

Good morning!

I've had a discussion with a client about a new project. The main concern is as the software provider, can a full blown application be upgraded simply by replacing the EXE with a new one. My customer's concern is because of the computer illiteracy of his customer base, performing an install type function might prove unsucessfull.

Can the compiler of a C# program be configured such that after the initial product install, all the required DLL's, references, etc. are not part of the EXE, but rather only utilized by the EXE. My thinking is that if this is possible, then I should be able to only need to send a new EXE to the customer.

And then as I have discovered over the years, just because a program loads, compiles, and/or runs on my development computer, does not insure that the installation on a target computer will be successful.

If this is not possible, can LINUX do it? Would you recommend using LINUX?

[BioPhysEngr]

are not part of the EXE, but rather only utilized by the EXE

Sure, this is the entire concept of dynamic linking. It will work as long as all of the library (DLL) files are available on the client computer. For .NET applications, this typically means they have the same .NET framework installed as was your compile target (plus any external libraries you utilized).

However, I doubt that copying a file into a location on a drive is going to be simpler than an install. I haven't actually made an installer before, but this one looks pretty good: http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Main_Page

The situation will be similar under linux.

[dglienna]

Click-Once deployment is built into VS2010. It lets you specify an minimum version number, and can be set to check a site for updates automatically. Easy to disable the program, too. It can be set to NOT install to the desktop. Only a LINK on the start menu.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...vs.100%29.aspx