Why is InstallStoffi.exe so big?

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Describe the feature you want implemented.
Dramatically reduce the size of the Xia download.

Describe why you think that this feature is needed.
One of the variables that is looked down upon in the Windows freeware community 
is the size of the download. It doesn't matter that we have 100s or 1000s of 
GBs of storage on our HDDs. The user's mind thinks of bloat. 

The thinking process is something like:
"Why would I download a 50MB music player, when I can download a 5MB music 
player?"

I also wondered why Stoffi is a 50MB download. After unpacking the exe, I see 
that Stoffi is pretty small. The majority is taken up by the DotNetFX40Client 
and the Windows Installer Hotfix.

1. My suggestion is to eliminate both of those packages from Xia and rather 
have Stoffi check for them once Stoffi is being installed. Also, removing 
Milkdrop would shave off another 5MB.

2. Or even better still: Is it possible for Xia to be a portable application 
that doesn't need to be installed at all? Without the installation overhead, 
Stoffi will be a tiny download.

That will certainly be in it's favour when people are choosing between other 
music players.

Also, if the user already has those packages installed, then it becomes an 
unnecessary download.

Imagine the user's rather saying:
"It's tiny, it's beautiful, it's portable. The choice is simple, choose Stoffi"

Are there any other projects that inspired you? Do you have any screenshots
or mockups to show a concept of this feature?
Most of the applications on my laptop are small and portable.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by wic...@gmail.com on 1 May 2011 at 7:25

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Stoffi is 2,6 megabyte. The milkdrop visualizer (which will be removed later 
when I get time - or find someone else with the time and the skills - to fix 
our own, great and awesome visualizer.

The rest is .NET which needs to be installed on the users computer before 
Stoffi can function. This package MAY already be installed.
I have a few alternatives:
1) Distribute .NET with Stoffi in case it is needed.
2) Distribute only Stoffi and use the internet to download and install .NET if 
needed (this makes the installation depend on you having a good internet 
connection)
3) Don't care, let the user go to microsoft.com and find and install .NET on 
their own if they don't already have it installed.

I chose to go with the first alternative which adds about 30 Mb to the 
installer package.

In conclusion: I see no alternative that is better than what we currently have. 
We can tell people that Stoffi is small, .NET is big but that they may already 
have it in case they have ANY other application which uses .NET. I think this 
is an issue which is better solved with communication and not code.

Original comment by ephracis on 1 May 2011 at 9:42

• Changed title: Why is InstallStoffi.exe so big?
• Changed state: Accepted
• Added labels: Priority-Medium, Milestone-Future, Level-Hard

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Ok, I have changed my mind. We do the .NET download only if necessary. I have 
repackaged the installer and I need you to test it for me. Make sure it works 
both when .NET 4 is already installed and when it's not.

Original comment by ephracis on 5 May 2011 at 10:46

• Added labels: Milestone-Xia, Level-Medium
• Removed labels: Milestone-Future, Level-Hard

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Original comment by ephracis on 5 May 2011 at 10:51

• Changed state: Fixed

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Fantastic! Thank you. I have tested it and all is good.

Original comment by wic...@gmail.com on 5 May 2011 at 9:10

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Original comment by christof...@stoffiplayer.com on 24 Apr 2012 at 5:03