Sergey is the captain of the ship here, so let him propose a roadmap. Things are getting too polemical now.  
But if an installer for MariaDB should be completed in weeks some compromises/trade-offs would be required for a start and a (or more) 'mockup'(s) would be required very soon. 
.
On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 00:51, Vladislav Vaintroub <wlad@sun.com> wrote:


From: Peter Laursen [mailto:peter_laursen@webyog.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 12:12 AM
To: Vladislav Vaintroub
Cc: Sergey Petrunya; Henrik Ingo; maria-developers@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: Re: [Maria-developers] Windows installer, part 2



> will write to user's \virtualstore folder and NOT to the 'datadir' defined in server configuration. That is the problem in my understanding. It results in two different copies of the database files.

File Virtualization does not apply to 64 bit. This problem hit you on 32 bit, but what I see  for 64 bit processes, is that server cannot open file for writing when running under non-elevated (even if administrative) account.

>Actually I agree with your 'preaching' (at least as an option for live servers running on a Windows server platform).
I thought about it as a "must", and not option:) User will still be able to change the service to run as SYSTEM.

>But I do not think such change between MySQL and MariaDB should be implemented in current stage.
>I am in favor building a rather simple 'skeleton' doing what is required for Windows - uninstaller, PCA compability, start menu items, registering service correctly etc. -
>(but not all what is required for MySQL/MariaDB in the first place) that can be detailed.

I understand that completely. My point was however, I believe it is very unlikely you'll be able to solve usability problems as outlined in the discussion (like ability to start server in user session) without fixing security. I'm not aware of any tricks, except extremely radical measures, like making all files world-writable. Of course Maria v.1 can live with the same usability and security limitations as MySQL, but after reading  your "Does MySQL care about Windows users", I thought you'd prefer an improvement.