Disclaimer

The content of this blog is my personal opinion only. Although I am an employee - currently of Nvidia, in the past of other companies such as Iagination Technologies, MIPS, Intellectual Ventures, Intel, AMD, Motorola, and Gould - I reveal this only so that the reader may account for any possible bias I may have towards my employer's products. The statements I make here in no way represent my employer's position, nor am I authorized to speak on behalf of my employer. In fact, this posting may not even represent my personal opinion, since occasionally I play devil's advocate.

See http://docs.google.com/View?id=dcxddbtr_23cg5thdfj for photo credits.

Sunday, September 06, 2015

Who says Mac OS X does not need uninstallers

I have heard people say that Windows needs uninstallers for DSW because of design flaws, whereas Mac OS X does not need uninstallers because of its perfect UNIX-ish design.



False!



Evidence: uninstalling the "Basis Sync.app", now that I am no longer using my Basis B1 watch (R.I.P.).



The web page link says, paraphrasing: "To uninstall move the 'Basis Sync.app' from the /Applications folder to Trash.  Also, go and remove support files from ~/Library/Application Support/Basis Sync."



The two separate steps would be encapsulated by an uninstaller.



But furthermore:  trying to move the 'Basis Sync.app' fails, because the app is running - I was starting it by default.  (I guess Apple has put in a Windows like interlock; normal UNIX would blindly unlink a running program.)  Option-Command-Escape does not show 'Basis Sync.app' as running.  However, standard UNIX ps does, and I can kill it, and then remove the app.



I know how to do this.  But how many non-UNIX users would?   My wife?  My mother?



Automating - creating an uninstaller - forces the software vendor to really know how to uninstall.