Most software installers demand to be run as root/Administrator.
The fact that this is largely seen as acceptable or even sensible is rather silly in this day and age.
The fact that this is largely seen as acceptable or even sensible is rather silly in this day and age.
Most windows apps aren't sandboxed so the concept of "permissions" doesn't make any sense. The most there is is "asks to run as admin", but most installers do.
It is just a really bad design without built-in sandboxing.
At least the system prevented me from seeing or modifying the files the last time I tried. I did not try very hard, admittedly, but by contrast modifying something in C:\Program Files is just one UAC confirmation away.
There’s no need to have an executable program just to essentially unzip some files to disk
What if you need to install some registry keys? What about installing shared dependencies (redistributables)? What if you want granny to install your app and left to her own devices, it'll end up in some random folder in the downloads folder?