In the early days of the Macintosh, programs were small enough to fit
on a single floppy. The MacOS of the time was simple enough that
installation of new software on a Macintosh consisted of inserting the
floppy with the new software and using drag and drop to copy the
application from the floppy to your hard disk.

As software grew and the MacOS became more complex, software
developers began requiring users to run "installers" to install new
software.  These installers often used file compression so that more
software could be put on fewer floppies.  The increasing complexity of
the MacOS also made the installation procedure more tricky, since
certain files would need to be copied into the System Folder and the
machine might need to be rebooted after the System Folder was
modified.  Installers did all the tricky work. Now, with software very
large and the MacOS very complex, installers are common even with
shareware and other software that you might download from the Internet
or a bulletin board.

Unfortunately, because of the complexity of the MacOS, some installers
use intimate knowledge of the MacOS to work their wonders. This use of
intimate knowledge makes it hard for emulators such as Executor to
work properly with these rogue installers.  In fact, the first release
of Apple's own "Macintosh Application Environment" (MAE) couldn't run
some versions of Apple's own installer -- the problem is that bad.

Currently, installers based on that older version of Apple's Installer
will fail under Executor.  The most popular program that uses Apple's
old installer is Word 5.

With a little creativity, you can usually install these programs into
Executor anyway.  Here are some of the methods past users have used:


I.  Stuffit Expander, an extremely flexible freeware utility which is
included with Executor, may be able to unpack the files just as the
actual installer would.  You can then move them into their proper
places by hand.  Often there will be a file or folder which will need
to be moved into the System Folder.  Executor users have successfully
installed Microsoft Word using Stuffit Expander.

II.  Install the program on a real Macintosh, and move the installed
program to Executor.  You can do this file-by-file in a pinch, but
it's usually quicker and easier to compress the installed program
using Stuffit or Compact Pro.  Don't forget to add to the archive
anything which the installer might have put into the Macintosh's
System Folder.

     Once you have the archive, you can move it to Executor and use
Stuffit Expander to unpack it there.  Again, anything which goes in
the System Folder on a real Macintosh should also go in the System
Folder under Executor.

III. Install the program on a real Macintosh which is equipped with an
external Macintosh hard drive.  Disconnect the external drive and
connect it to your PC.  Use Executor to run the program from the
external drive, or to copy it from there to your PC drive.


ARDI has been making progress with installers, as has Apple.  In
general, newer installers are much more likely to work with Executor.
