That’s a lot of geekspeak which seems principally aimed at IT professionals - fine, but there is no normal user version. Plus, it doesn’t tell me anything about offline validation. For that I tried to find a separate topic, and all I found was this:
…which is actually a Zoo related article - it has the procedure, but an average user might not understand that it also applies to an individual non-zoo offline validation.
Please create a clear page that tells an average user how to download and install/validate Rhino offline.
There really needs to be some consolidation/cleanup in a number of areas concerning licensing and installation, I typically end up bouncing back and forth between online support articles and the Wiki, trying to piece together info that should be all in one place.
I was a system admin in a 50+ employees in the late '90s so it’s quite possible I don’t see the issue here. I went through the steps in that document to install a Rhino 6 update and see that when the installer finishes with “Copy this installer […]” it probably means the “Bootstrapper.exe” file that was created and not the installer that was downloaded.
Apart from that and the licensing issue, where does a “normal user” get stuck on that page?
I filed a Cloud Zoo documentation issue last week and will continue to file what I see that should be improved. Do you have specific examples of other pages that need clarification?
Thanks,
-wim
Well, for a ‘normal user’ installation and validation are one single thing/operation. They want to go from nothing to having Rhino installed. It’s really simple for a normal online download/install/validate, but an offline install obviously needs a bit more explanation - most importantly how to validate offline.
So, I would expect a nice, easy to read page that starts with detailing how to download the necessary files - even better would be a special download link that already has everything so the user does not have to do the steps 1-4 below…
Then once the user gets to the point that the installer can be launched - for instructions they see this:
What the heck does ‘run the installer manually’ mean? OK, I want more info/instructions, so I click on the ‘deployment instructions’ link and then I see this:
WTH??? That’s all geekspeak to me and scary to boot. ‘Deployment’ is another IT term that is to be avoided, for me that usually means sending military troops to some foreign country, not installing software. And that page is clearly intended for automated ‘deployment’ to many computers in an industrial environment, not a single user scenario.
So, to get back to our ‘simple explanations’ page, after one has been able to download the package the next thing should be a simple explanation of how to launch the installation process.
Then, when the install process is complete, the next item should be the validation procedure - that one can basically be more or less copied from the Zoo offline validation page, just eliminate any of the references to the Zoo.
That page should then be referenced on the main Rhino site, probably on the Downloads page under Documentation, with perhaps a secondary link on the Support page.
I second this. As an offline single user since Rhino 2, I find the offline update procedure to be fairly simple once one understands the significance of the gear symbol on the installer opening screen and the need for a current redistribution file in the same directory as the installer.
As you say, though, the offline validation process is a well hidden mystery and because it is infrequently used only for absolutely first time installations and first installs of new releases it is not something that anyone will remember the details of from one use to another. Paper cut? Not when measured by the metric of one’s desire to get to Seattle by any means necessary in order to inflict murder and mayhem which is induced by the difficulty of finding out how to validate.
Another improvement (if my vague recollection of the process is correct) would be to allow the validation code entry field to be filled by pasting the validation text string from a copy obtained from the code server. This works quite well for Vcarve and Parallels and I don’t see how it would be a serious compromise of security for Rhino, but it would sure make it easier for the customer to get it right the first time.
Another pet peeve of mine is the lack of feedback on the install button push of the installer. Because there can be a fairly long delay between pushing the button and any visible screen action that indicates the install has begun I think a piece of immediate feedback showing that the button has indeed been pushed and accepted would be reassuring. Just a simple button color or intensity change would do it.
