Watir 1.4.1 was packaged/delivered in the following forms:

* Gem. The gem included the watir library, the unit tests (which could 
  automatically be run at install time), and the rdoc (which was generated at 
  install time) and the unit. At that time autoit was not automatically 
  registered, but since then it will now automatically be registered on first
  use if necessary.
  
* Rdoc. The rdoc was built with a batchfile and consequently was included in
  the one-click installer and uploaded to the website.

* Nullsoft one-click installer (exe). This replaced the use of the old 
  zip file with install.rb. 

* Tarball & install.rb. Users were often encouraged to download the latest 
  tarball from CVS and then they would run the install.rb script to install 
  from the tarball.

* Website. The website and doc set (including rdoc) was uploaded to 
  wtr.rubyforge.org using the website-upload.scr script.

Issues with this arrangement:

* The watir library could be installed two different ways, ending up in two 
  different locations. They could even be different versions and then when
  you uninstalled the one (say a gem) the other (non-gem) would still be there.
  This could lead to deep confusion.
  
* The install.rb script broke, mostly because of its dependence on the fox GUI
  libraries. 

* The build/release process had many manual steps and required different kinds
  of scripts to be run in a particular order and each script had different 
  dependencies.
  
* With the move to svn.openqa.org, we lost our download tarball option.

* We've had a lot of complaints about the one-click installer. It's hard to say
  what the problem is, since it has worked fine in all the training classes
  we've given to students on a multitude of laptops.
  
* There are some known bugs, specifically related to installing Watir under
  directories with a space in them.
    
Goals for Watir 1.5

* Always use the gem to install the watir library, even with the one-click 
  installer.
  
* Provide an easy way for users to install from source. Either a new
  command-line only install.rb or a fully automated rake-based build.

* Put all build/deploy processes in the rake file.
    
Build Plan for Watir 1.5

* Gem. We will continue to provide a gem, which many people find to be the most
  preferable form of install.

* Bonus. This is the stuff that had been included in the old installers: the
  doc, the rdoc, the examples and the unit tests. This can be delivered as a
  zip file. This plus the gem gives the users everything they got before, 
  except for the nifty menu/desktop links.