Bootstrapper and software download manager

摘要

The present invention provides a bootstrapper and download manager for handling the download and installation of one or more software products to a computer. The invention determines system requirements and whether any prerequisite software is required by a software product to be downloaded. Any necessary prerequisite software is installed on the computer and if more than one software product has a shared prerequisite, then the invention recognizes that and prevents downloading multiple ones of the shared prerequisites. Also, in the event of an interruption or error during download, the invention can resume downloading or installation based on the download successfully stored on the local machine without requiring the download all over again. This saves considerable time during the download and install process and enhances user productivity and experience. A download manager provides a user interface to efficiently select from multiple software products for download and negotiate issues such as multiple and different product licenses.

主权项

1. A method of installing software by a user on a destination computing device, the method comprising:
presenting, at a display associated with the destination computing device, for selection a plurality of software products for downloading and installing on the destination computing device, wherein the software comprises selections from the plurality of software products; receiving a signal representing a selection of at least one software product from the plurality of software products; prior to commencing installation, downloading the software; commencing installing software on a destination computing device, including performing any necessary software download from a single source into a memory associated with the destination computing device; determining that not all of the software was successfully downloaded; prior to recommencing installation, re-downloading software that was not successfully downloaded while avoiding re-downloading at least some of the software that was successfully downloaded; upon an interruption in the installing step, determining whether the software is stored in the memory of the destination computing device; and if the software is stored in the memory of the destination computing device, recommencing installing the software without causing a further download of the software.