Is it just me, or is installing many applications on Mac OS X fairly newbie unfriendly?

the readme says to ignore the supplementary files and folders. So if one takes the time to read the Read Me, everything is explained? Or is that not what you were looking for? At work I see this all the time - i.e., "A message popped up on my computer... is that a problem?" What did it say? "Oh, I didn't read it. I think it was an error or something. That's bad, right? What does it mean?" Well, next time it happens tell me what it says and I can tell you what it means or, at home: [Looking at download page] "Which version do I want?" What does it say? "Well this says Macintosh. I don't have that, right?" What else does it say? "Um...Macintosh, Windows, oh, wait, I have windows, right? I'll download that?" no response "Ok, I'll try that..." I don't know what it is, but people tend to not read things provided to them (I see this in the non-computing world, too, but that's a whole other issue). Part of it is probably the reputation of computers as black-box machines that must be treated exactly right lest they go nuclear (which isn't wholly inaccurate), but I don't fully understand it. But hey, it keeps me employed.

Just for fun, open up Read Me.rtf. What does that tell you to do?

I'm not sure there's much of a way to make things any easier without there being some kind of automation in place, or the use of a Super Armitron robot arm to move your mouse. The process is already exactly one step: 1. Drag the application bundle to Applcations. Admittedly the wrangling of disk images (and even more annoying, archived disk images) is kind of irksome and does add a little overhead, but the use of disk images for bundle distribution is pretty deeply ingrained in Macintosh software development culture dating back to the days when resource fork preservation was critical to the platform but poorly supported outside the Macintosh niche.

I always just copy the application to the applications folder. I ignore the other stuff. Hasn't been a problem yet.

If you're used to Windows where you download an exe file that installs the program and deletes itself with one click, then yes. Once you get used to it (as with most tech things) it starts to make more sense. My Dad just switched from PC to Mac and one of the biggest stumbling blocks he had was that he was running all his programs from the dmg files and not installing them because he didn't see the "drag this program to the shortcut of the applications directory that we've PUT RIGHT HERE" as being as simple as it was. Also cleaning up after installing a program is less intuitive than other mac things, to me. I'm with everyone else, I don't save the readme and all that other junk, I just keep the application and figure I can get everything else from the web.

I agree with Dorri732. I ignored the other stuff. Usually do. I can;t see how it could get easier. The applications folder in the dmg is usually an alias, so it's a matter of dragging one icon onto another.

You know what really throws people? That you can copy most application bundles from one computer to another, and that just works. "You mean I didn't have to reinstall it?"... "Nope."

I think 'drag to Applications' is more newbie-friendly per se, but if you're familiar with Windows installers, they establish an expectation that's hard to break. It's complicated on OS X by those scenarios where you have an 'Extra Stuff' folder in the disk image, or an arrangement where you need to create a folder in /Applications. A good rule of thumb, though, is that if you don't see anything in the 'Extra Stuff' folder that immediately strikes you as worthwhile -- often AppleScripts or similar -- then you can ignore it. That applies to your granny. (Some developers style the DMG background to make it clear what needs to be dragged and dropped where.. That seems to work well.)

In line with what rokusan is saying.... for my Dad who really does want to know how the Mac can do that sort of stuff... I opened his eyes to the "show package contents" option that you can get by right clicking on an application "See? All the stuff that goes along with a program, it's all hidden in there, this thing IS the program...."