> It is solely so that people can include a shortcut to /Applications and style the dmg window background with a bitmap that alludes to dragging to install? I

> It is solely so that people can include a shortcut to /Applications and style the dmg window background with a bitmap that alludes to dragging to install? I believe so. The first app I checked, DaisyDisk, distributes as a zip file. Like you said, most often people distribute dmg and it's to give hints to drag it into /Applications. I really like the .app system, but always found the UX of download, unzip/open DMG, drag to /Applications as very awkward. I figure Apple stopped caring about that when they added the Mac App Store in 2011.