A light native JNLP client with full control given to the user (including the ability to tune how that damn wanring message is displayed) thats all I’m asking for…
I’m really started to think that there are alot of users out there that won’t down java not because they haven’t got the bandwidth, simply because its one click too far…
One app… download… get game. Play…
.exe is all very well but I don’t want to package a JVM each time I deploy :(. If its on a CD sure… but download.
Kev
You should see how OSX does it 
Perfect.
Cas
The Webstart client for windows could be improved so much with a few simple changes.
Add a property in the JNLP file that says to WebStart - I want my application installed like a “normal” app. This will cause the Webstart client to:
1 - present an installer-like interface
2 - Install shortcuts on the desktop on the very first launch
3 - Add the app to the Start->All Programs menu on the first launch
4 - Add an uninstall shortcut in the subfolder it made in the Programs menu
It would continue to add the application to the ‘Add & Remove Programs’ list - but this would happen right away.
The key here is that the program is not “lost” after the first launch, requiring users to know about the JavaWS application launcher (NOBODY does) or to navigate back to the web site and get the JNLP all over again.
Since Windows will never get the Mac’s perfect “Application Package” concept :), making WebStart apps appear as “normal” as possible to Windows users is key.
Ahem. What you actually meant to say was “… got Webstart and Sun have roused themselves to fix the damn client the world …”
[quote]Nice idea, but it’ll be like jws’ ‘…it’s recommended you do not start this app…’-dialog popping up a 1000 times : 
It’ll warn the user allright, but it’ll scare him away from your hard work even more.
Actually I think the jws warning dialog is not so bad, even if it would pop up at every downloaded program that doesn’t have a trusted certificate, but OTOH if it will popup at every dl-ed non-commercial program you’re likely to become immune to them.
[/quote]
You know, after all this time, only one thing really gets me about that dialog:
It’s so damn ugly.
No matter how beautiful and lovely the app I’m about to run, I always get this “face like a rhino’s butt” dialog, with lots of dull and pointless text that is only there for me to click “no” for the times when the game loaded without downloading because of the bug where the shitty webstart client from sun f***s-up on the check and ignores the fact that a new version is available.
[quote]Any idea why that is?
…
It’s probably down to blahblahblahh’s campaigning but I’m reluctant to try something that is not webstart now, it’s just much hassle.
[/quote]
Yeah. Bear in mind that people on JGO have been to JGF and played a succession of games in one sitting, where every game just worked and ran immediately with a neat little download-progress bar, AND (in some cases) shared libraries with previously-downloaded games.
This was one of the driving forces behind starting JGF: to demonstrate that if you put lots of webstart games together in one place, so that everyone who visited that place downloaded the JVM once and then had access to all these games, that the value of webstart (to the PLAYER) would quickly become very clear.
I fully expect things to change over time, now that the new JGF is partially functional, but right now hits to JGF are still pretty low (circa 4,000 unique visitors a month). When that hits 30k per month I think we’ll see that the number of webstart-supporters in the world at large very obviously increases. The argument is very convincing, just so long as enough people hear it.
Ahem. Mac-users excepted (cos lots of games slipped through before I had anyone with OS X testing them :().
.jad if its mobile!!! :o :o 8)
webstart, however it still does need a little more work, first its a lot of painful steps to get it up, so a few tools to make it easier would be a bonus, also a webstart installer would be nice, so it setup the game as well as startmenu entries.