We do plan to ultimately merge the international & English installer. The reason they must exist separately now is so that we can 100% guarantee that the JRE supports international characters. The one downloaded by the English installer does not always support international characters, because the download is much larger (and the vast majority of people don't need it). Until we can come up with a viable solution for this, the two installers are going to remain separate. Rest assured, though, that we're looking at it.
As far as selecting the version of Java within LimeWire -- we have thought it out. It is not as simple as "restart now". The setting is maintained in a way that makes it easy for a Java program to read, not in a way that makes it easy for a C/C++ program to read (which is what LimeWire.exe is, launching a JVM and starting LimeWire within it). Yes, we could spend time adding this functionality to LimeWire.exe, but in all honestly it isn't worth it. Choosing the JRE is way too advanced for any user and can cause a whole load of problems. Choosing the version of Java is outside the scope of LimeWire. It is a system issue.
We already do ship LimeWire with and without Java. If you download the English version, it comes without Java. If you download the international version, it comes with Java. Unfortunately, for the time being the version of Java it comes with is 1.3. If you do not want to use 1.3, do not use the international installer.
Can someone explain to me again why using the English installer isn't an option? That really will solve every problem you've mentioned. |