Patent ID: 7594225

Claim:
A method for expressing customization intent implemented by a computing device, the method comprising: accessing an application installation package comprising: an executable application; instructions for installing the executable application onto the computing device; and a customization application that, when executed by the computing device, generates a customization options user interface (COUI); executing the instructions for installing the executable application; executing the customization application; presenting the COUI including customization options from the application installation package that enables a user to select customization options that represents the user's customization intent to the executable application; generating customization Extensible Markup Language (XML) content expressing the user's customization intent based on an output from the COUI; and in an event that the application installation package further comprises pre-existing customization XML content representing previously generated customization intent: accessing the pre-existing customization XML content; repopulating the COUI presenting the previously generated customization intent such that previously generated customization intent can be reviewed and user input instructions can be received to change, retain, or remove the previously generated customizations, and add new customizations; receiving the user input instructions through the COUI that represent an intent to customize the executable application; responsive to receiving the user input instructions: iteratively-displaying altered customization intent on the COUI, and creating an internal customization view that represents the user's customizations, wherein the internal customization view continues to change as the user input instructions identifying desired customizations on the COUI, when the user input instructions are complete, the internal customization view representing the user's customization intent and as an output from the COUI; altering the pre-existing customization XML content based on the output from the COUI; and generating updated customization XML content comprising the customization XML content and the altered customization XML content, wherein the updated customization XML content is a generic manifestation of the user's customization intent regarding the executable application, and the updated customization XML content is stored in a computer readable storage medium and made available for subsequent installations of the executable application.