[An4ximandros]

For conspicuous prowess and service to the Freespace community, you are hereby awarded the Medal of Coding. Congratulations. ~20 Mins in Ps, If anyone's interested. A simple 'Yes' GIF was not doing it for me.

[yuezhi]

Commodoreore yuezhi speaking!
Officer Pinky, switch on caps; protocol eta!
Lieutenant Tall and Pollex, load and aim!
Quartus, Buckle down the hatches!
Ensign Arrow, Fire all guns!


EDIT: IT'S JAVA -_-

[Fury]

Yay... wait, Java? Oh god, no.

[Black Wolf]

Seriously? We have what seems to be a working installer, finally. The biggest hurdle to getting new people into the community will be gone, the number of future players for all of our mods and campaigns and upgrades will almost certainly shoot up, and people are complaining about the language it's written in?

Personally, I couldn't care less if it's in Java, C, BASIC or written in bloody sexps as long as it works. Nicely done Goober!

[Fury]

Java is too big of a security risk to be overjoyed about its use.

[headdie]

yay what a way to thank Goober5000 for untold hours of volunteer effort

Nicely done mate, how long do you think before it's ready?

[The E]

Java is too big of a security risk to be overjoyed about its use.

Java is a security risk, yes.

It is also one of the very few platforms where one can write code that works the same way across all the platforms we support.
By the way, griping about the choice of language now is a bit late, given that the installer, even in its previous incarnation, has always been Java.

[Cyborg17]

Thank you Goober!   

[Oddgrim]

Whats this? Something crunchy and perhaps tasty? A "working" installer you say, how very intriguing!

..
Ability to formulate sentences this early should not be done without the proper stimulants.. Like coffee.

[Veers]

Everything has a security risk involved. Java is a good choice for the installer.

GOOBER FOR OVERLORD. Congrats that your hard work is paying off. 

[mjn.mixael]

Meh. I refuse to celebrate until a download link is posted. Till then.. it's just a couple of screens.

<---- Party Pooper

[NGTM-1R]

Yeah, it's not done until it's being used by the public.

[BritishShivans]

i will gladly offer you sexual favors for doing this

now soon we will be able to stop saying "INSTALLER NOT GOOD" to new people

[Fury]

It was not my intention to understate Goober's contribution in creating new installer. As far as I know it was never mentioned before what programming language would be used to build the installer. It is irrelevant what was used for the old installer. Emphasis being on old.

It is bad design if the installer requires Java Runtime Environment to function. Requiring people to install JRE to run the installer does nothing but put people at unnecessary risk towards Java exploits. Security issues that Java has had is nothing to shrug about. I'm sorry if cross-platform convenience is more important than not increasing potential attack surface on people's computers.

If the installer works without JRE or JDK, then I guess that's all right.

[Goober5000]

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone.   And thanks for the medal, An4ximandros.

I should note that the skepticism of mjn.mixael and NGTM-1R is reasonable; there are still several pieces needed to be put together before you can start up the installer and have it work start to finish.  But the download panel that I just completed is a major step (and one of the final major steps) in that direction.

As for Java...

It is also one of the very few platforms where one can write code that works the same way across all the platforms we support.
By the way, griping about the choice of language now is a bit late, given that the installer, even in its previous incarnation, has always been Java.

This, exactly this.  Additionally, there is a critical point about the recent Java security vulnerabilities that isn't being emphasized: they apply to Java applets rather than Java applications.  Java applets are what run in your browser, and they tend not to be popular these days because everyone prefers alternatives such as Flash -- which is one of the reasons Oracle was caught off-guard.  Java applications are what run on your desktop.  The FSO Installer is a Java application.  If you disable all your Java browser plugins, you'll be fully protected from all the security exploits, and you'll still be able to run the Installer.

[Goober5000]

The Installer is actually a lot further along than the earlier pictures implied...









The last page is what I'm currently working on.

[An4ximandros]

[Cyborg17]

Go Go Go GO GO GOOBER!   

[Veers]

I only wish to gripe at the usage of FreeSpace Open, FreeSpace Installer and FreeSpace 2 Open.

Shouldnt that be more standardised to just FreeSpace Open or FreeSpace 2 Open.

But wow, definately a lot further along than we had originally thought. Go Go Go, Go GOOBER, Go Go Go, Go GOOBER!

[Fury]

Are following features planned?
- Detecting if FS2 is installed to Program Files and move it to Games or another folder or user's choice?
- Detect GoG.com version and fix mve.
- Install OpenAL. I'm not sure which one is better choice, Creative's or Soft. But either way OpenAL32.dll can be dropped into FS2 dir, instead of system wide install.
- Install launcher. I still find it annoying that wxLauncher can't just be dropped into FS2 dir and have it work, like old launcher.
- Keeping all of above and mods up-to-date?