On Mon, 2007-09-03 at 19:51 -0600, Jesse Allen wrote:
On 9/3/07, Misha Koshelev mk144210@bcm.edu wrote:
Actually you all bring up rather interesting points with regards to Vector NTI as:
(a) It pretty much ships with almost every Microsoft redistributable needed (e.g., MDAC, Windows Script, MFC71, etc.) and installs them on its installation _except_ MFC42 (not sure why this oversight and if this would break it on some native system, although I _believe_ it installed correctly on my plain vanilla Win98 VMWare installation, but I would have to double check for sure).
I think if these vendors are supplying programs that require these dlls and do not provide them, then I think the person who buys this program needs to take up the issue with the vendor. If I bought a program and did not get the dll and do not have it, I essentially have a dud, essentially since downloading the dlls is legally risky.
Jesse
Good point. In a way it seems kind of Microsoft's fault, since they are the ones who ultimately provide the Windows Script redistributable which requires MFC42.DLL but does not provide it (in fact, the accurate statement is that Windows Script redistributable installs "incorrectly" without MFC42.DLL; it does not give any errors and places all the correct DLLs in the right places, but does not write a bunch of registry keys like I believe Scriptable.Dictionary if I remember the name correctly and ends up failing on certain scripts).
As for Vector NTI, I think one of the reasons it is so popular is because it is free for academic/research use, so technically I didn't pay for it, but yes I agree with you completely that companies should provide necessary DLLs with their products. Additionally, I checked on my "plain vanilla Win98 install" and actually it was _VMWare Tools_ that provided MFC42.DLL... go figure :)
Misha