Some back-of-a-postcard sums:
monolithic install
577MB install.
1 update to a package a week,
1 new 577MB install file created each week.
longest period without updating - 2 months.
this would mean an average of ~280MB per month downloading updates.
modular install
577MB total download size
1 update to a package a week,
1 new modular install (avg ~5MB) created each week.
longest period without updated - 2 months.
this would mean an average of ~20MB per month downloading updates.
Seems pretty clear to me, that for anyone on a slow link, or anyone
charged by volume, that the modular install is much more efficient.
Faulty analogy. Most users would probably only download the monolithic
tarball once, for their initial installation. Then use setup.exe and
update things in a modular fashion after that.