InstallSite Blog

Acresso Special Offers in October

Acresso has started a new special offer for InstallShield and InstallAnywhere for October, and the AdminStudio offer also runs through Oct 30. Below is a summary of the current offers, and also some information about the price increase that was announced for November 1, 2008.

InstallShield and InstallAnywhere offer

"No-Cost Upgrade: Get the latest InstallShield or InstallAnywhere at no charge" is the subject line of an e-mailing that Acresso is currently sending to customers. While I find this slightly exaggerated :) you can still save a significant amount of money using this offer. And by the way: you can use it even if you didn't receive the e-mail. Here is how it works:

You order*: Bundle Product Upgrade + Silver Maintenance
You pay: Silver Maintenance only (which is less than a single upgrade)
You get: Upgrade to the current version + free product upgrades for the next 12 months + unlimited phone and web support for 12 months

This offer is valid for supported as well as end-of-life versions of InstallShield and InstallAnywhere (but you can't switch to a higher edition, for example from Professional to Premier).

*special promotion code required, contact your reseller for details

Example 1: Upgrade from InstallShield 11 Professional

Suppose you have InstallShield 11 Professional, which is a currently supported version (support for this version will end December 31, 2008, but that's another story) and want to upgrade to InstallShield 2009 Professional.

So you pay less than the regular upgrade price but also get a silver maintenance plan, which includes upgrades and support for one year.

Example 2: Upgrade from InstallShield 10.5 Professional

Suppose you have InstallShield 10.5 Professional, which is no longer supported (so you cannot upgrade but would have to buy the full product) and want to upgrade to InstallShield 2009 Professional.

This offer is valid through October 31, 2008. The prices used in the above examples are the list prices valid in October 2008. See below for the price increase announced for November.

AdminStudio offer

When upgrading from a supported version of AdminStudio (version 7.0 or higher) to AdminStudio 9 you can get 10% off the upgrade price. Owners of end-of-life versions (AdminStudio 6 or older) can get 30% off the price of the full version. Don't be confused: owners of a current version get 10% discount in addition to the regular upgrade discount, owners of end-of-life versions get 30% off the price of the full product (not off the upgrade price). This offer is valid through October 31, 2008.

InstallShield Multiplatform and Universal offer

Users of InstallShield Multiplatform or the Universal project type in InstallShield to create cross-platform installations can migrate to InstallAnywhere with 30%-50% off the software price and a 15% discount for consulting and training. This offer is valid through December 19, 2008.

InstallShield and InstallAnywhere price increase effective Nov 1

Acresso announced that the prices for InstallShield and InstallAnywhere will be significantly increased effective November 1, 2008. I don't have a full price list but from what I've seen so far:

• Prices for full products will go up 10%-20%
• Prices for upgrades will go up 50%-70%, in some cases they will even double
• Prices for maintenance will not change (except InstallShield Premier Silver Maintenance which will go up 10%)

Note that these are only ballpark numbers and subject to change.

Call to action

If you have an end-of-life version (InstallShield 10.5 or older, or InstallAnywhere 6 or older, or AdminStudio 6 or older) you can get the latest version at a relatively low price through October 31.

If you have a supported version of InstallShield (versions 11 - 2008) or InstallAnywhere (versions 7 - 2008 without VP1) you can lock in the pricing for one year by taking advantage of the upgrade + maintenance bundle offers. Note that InstallAnywhere 2008 was released about a year ago, so I'd expect a new version in the near future - which you would get free of charge as a benefit of your maintenance plan.

This article is only a broad overview. Please contact your reseller to find out if/how you can benefit from these offers and which promo code to use.

These products and special offers are also available from InstallSite.

And the winners are...

A while ago I announced that I can give away free MSDN Premium subscriptions and a SnagIt license to members of the installer community. Now, with the assistance of my three kids, the winners have been drawn.

The winners of the one-year subscriptions of MSDN Premium with Visual Studio Team Suite from Microsoft are (in alphabetical order):

• Bryan Bridges: Bryan is long time member of the InstallSite Forum, his 7th anniversary is taking place these days. He's on rank three of overall top posters.
• Christopher Painter: Chris is active in the InstallShield forum and WiX mailing list. Many of you will know his DeploymentEngineering.com blog.
• Sebastian Brand: Sebastian is active in Microsoft's msi newsgroups and the WiX mailing list.

And a license of the screen capture tool SnagIt from TechSmith goes to:

• Stein Inge Åsmul: Stein is also a long time member of the InstallSite Forum, approaching his 6th anniversary. He's on rank two of overall top posters.

Congratulations to the winners!

I also want to thank all those who didn't win for their contributions to the installer community. Keep up the good work!

Last but not least I thank Microsoft Corp. and TechSmith Corp. for providing the prizes for this drawing.

InstallShield and InstallAnywhere prices will go up

In an e-mail sent today, Acresso announced that effective November 1, 2008, prices will increase on InstallShield® and InstallAnywhere®. There were no details in the e-mail, but according to my information the prices for full versions and upgrades of InstallShield and InstallAnywhere will go up substantially.

So if you plan to buy InstallShield or InstallAnywhere or upgrade to the latest version, you should do so before November 1, 2008. Note that until September 30, 2008 there are extra discounts available for some upgrades and end-of-life special offers.

You can buy InstallShield and InstallAnywhere in the InstallSite Shop

Security Vulnerability in FLEXnet Connect / InstallShield Update Service

When checking for updates, the FLEXnet Connect client (and it's previous versions named InstallShield Update Service) can download and execute scripts from the update server. The problem is that these scripts are downloaded via HTTP, so the identity of the server isn't verified and the scripts are not encrypted. Therefore an attacker could cause the client to execute malicious scripts, for instance by redirecting the connection using a proxy or a DNS attack. There's no fix available but the following article from the US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team) lists some possible workarounds:

• Vulnerability Note VU#837092: InstallShield / Macrovision / Acresso FLEXnet Connect insecurely retrieves and executes scripts

InstallShield 2009 Service Pack 2 available

Acresso released Service Pack 2 for InstallShield 2009 Premier and Professional. SP2 contains support for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008. In addition, several issues were resolved in this service pack. The SP2 patch includes all of the SP1 changes.

The service pack is currently available for the English editions of InstallShield only. German and Japanese versions will be posted at a later time. An updated version of the Standalone Build will also be released at a later time.

• Release Notes
• Download

Tarma Installer 5.3 released

Tarma Software Research announces the release of Tarma Installer 5.3. Tarma Installer 5 helps you to create installation ("Setup") programs for your own software product. Major new features of Tarma Installer 5 include support for x64 Windows versions, .Net support, support for Windows side-by-side assemblies and Windows mobile installers, fully editable installer dialogs and dialog sequences, fully editable installer action sequences, full support for Windows mobile installers and comprehensive localization support. The 5.3 release adds support for disk spanning several new Installer packaging options, including selective downloads.

With Tarma Installer 5 you can install and remove programs, documents, images, multi-media files, TrueType® and OpenType® fonts, .Net assemblies, ActiveX controls, COM servers, type libraries, WinHelp files, device drivers, services, registry updates, INI files, environment variables, program groups, shortcuts, and third-party tools.

The Tarma development environment, its project files, and the Tarma installation database and Setup program are Unicode-based from the ground up to ensure that all localization remains intact. Tarma installer 5 supports feature and component based installation as well as add-on and update installers and can import MSI merge modules.

The development environment is intuitive and easy to use and boasts more than 500 different preflight checks to spot potential problems before you deploy your installation. Tarma Installer 5 is small, fast, and has excellent compression, making your installation packages as compact as possible, thus saving download time and disk space.

Tarma Installer uses a proprietary runtime engine. Windows Installer (MSI) based setups can be created with Tarma ExpertInstall.

To evaluate Tarma Installer 5, users can download an unlimited trial version from the company's website.

• Product information and trial download
• 20% discount coupon for InstallSite users

(Text based on a press release from Tarma Software Research Pty)

Additional upgrade discounts from Acresso, including end-of-life products

Today Acresso extended the upgrade discount offer (10% off the upgrade price) that is available through the end of September (for AdminStudio: end of October) to the following product versions:

• InstallShield Express: versions 11, 11.5, 12, 2008
• InstallShield Professional and Premier: versions 11, 11.5
• InstallAnywhere Standard and Enterprise: version 7.0
• AdminStudio Standard, Professional and Enterprise: versions 7.x, 8.x

In addition, owners of old InstallShield, InstallAnywhere and AdminStudio versions that are past end-of-life and no longer qualify for upgrade pricing can get 30% off the price of the full product during the same time period.

Please contact your preferred reseller for the appropriate discount codes.

You can buy InstallShield, InstallAnywhere and AdminStudio in the InstallSite Shop

Acresso released AdminStudio 9 and announced end of life for AdminStudio 7.x

On August 29, 2008 Acresso released version 9.0 of AdminStudio Enterprise, Professional and Standard editions.

• AdminStudio 9 Release Notes (PDF)
• Webinar: What's New in AdminStudio 9.0 and Workflow Manager 5.0
  Registration required. WARNING: Anyone who knows your e-mail address can retrieve the information you entered during registration, so be careful what you enter as address, phone number, company revenue, etc.

At the same time, Acresso announced the end of life of AdminStudio 7.0 and 7.5. This includes Enterprise, Professional and Standard Editions. To stay current with the latest Acresso release, AdminStudio 7.x users can purchase the latest version of AdminStudio at the upgrade price through December 31, 2008. After December 31, 2008, they will need to purchase a new license of the latest version of AdminStudio at the regular full license price in order to stay current.

• AdminStudio End-of-Life Notice
  

You can buy AdminStudio in the InstallSite Shop

Acresso announces end of life for InstallShield 11.x and InstallAnywhere 7, special upgrade discount offer

On August 27, 2008, Acresso announced the end of life of InstallShield 11 and 11.5. This includes Premier, Professional and Express Editions and all languages of these Editions. Acresso also announced the end of life of InstallAnywhere 7.x.

To stay current with the latest Acresso release, InstallShield 11.x and InstallAnywhere 7.x users can purchase the latest version of InstallShield (for Windows support) or InstallAnywhere (for multiplatform support) - depending on their existing version and edition - at the upgrade price through December 31, 2008. After December 31, 2008, they will need to purchase a new license of the latest version of InstallShield or InstallAnywhere at the regular full license price in order to stay current.

• InstallShield End-of-Life Notice
• InstallAnywhere End-of-Life Notice

Special upgrade discount through September 30, 2008

Customers who want to upgrade from InstallShield 11.x or InstallAnywhere 7.x to the latest version can get an extra 10% discount off of the upgrade price when ordering before September 30, 2008 (please contact your preferred reseller for discount code).

You can buy InstallShield and InstallAnywhere in the InstallSite Shop

InstallShield 2009 Express available

On August 27, 2008 Acresso released version 2009 of InstallShield Express, completing the InstallShield 2009 product family: Premier, Professional and Express.

New features in this version include:

• Setup Prerequisites based on feature selection
• Visual Studio 2008 support
• MSI 4.5 Support
• Adobe Flash support on billboards
• Windows Mobile 6.x support and other improvements for Windows Mobile
• Value Added Service - you can (optionally) install the Yahoo! Toolbar with your setup, which might be useful if your product is ad-funded.

Support for Adobe Flash animations on the billboards that are displayed during file copy is currently only available in the Express edition.

Webinar: What's New in InstallShield 2009 Express Edition 
Registration required. WARNING: Anyone who knows your e-mail address can retrieve the information you entered during registration, so be careful what you enter as address, phone number, company revenue, etc.

You can buy InstallShield in the InstallSite Shop

New Advanced Installer 6.5 brings Windows Installer 4.5 support and WiX import

On August 19th, 2008 Caphyon Ltd. announced the latest edition of its Windows Installer authoring tool. The new Advanced Installer enables developers and system administrators to easily build and repackage complex applications into reliable, ready to deploy MSI and EXE installers, patches and on-line updates.

The 6.5 version completes the full implementation of Windows Installer
4.5 features. Embed multiple MSIs in a unified setup package and install them chained in a single, atomic transaction.

A new WiX import feature helps you leverage existing installer projects while at the same time giving you access to the numerous Advanced Installer features and capabilities.

Collect user information during install and POST it to your server with the included predefined Custom Action. With just one click specify your software dependencies using one of the newly added prerequisites and launch conditions.

Other improvements in this version:

• Complete Windows Installer 4.5 feature support
• WiX projects import
• .NET Native Image Generation 2.0 support
• .NET Native Image Generation support for assemblies installed in GAC
• User info collection and retrieval custom action
• Support for discrete "INI entry removal" operation
• Windows Installer 4.5 predefined Prerequisites
• SQL Server compact edition predefined prerequisite
• Visual C++ 2005 SP1 redistributable predefined prerequisite
• Visual C++ 2008 redistributable predefined prerequisite
• MS XML Parser predefined prerequisite
• Acrobat Reader 9.0 predefined prerequisite
• Acrobat Reader 9.0 predefined launch condition
• DirectX predefined launch condition

Advanced Installer is available in four editions, starting with the Freeware community edition and offering a 30-day trial period for the other editions.

For more information about Advanced Installer please see:
www.installsite.biz/advancedinstaller.htm

(Text based on a press release from Caphyon Ltd.)

Clean install taken literal, or how to solve error 1335

Error code 1335 means: "The cabinet file '[2]' required for this installation is corrupt and cannot be used. This could indicate a network error, an error reading from the CD-ROM, or a problem with this package."

Software maker Encore, Inc. recommends a "clean install" to fix this problem:

When attempting to install The Print Shop® 22, an error that includes the message "Error 1335..." appears. A conflict during the installation may cause this issue. Completing a clean installation of the program will help to prevent conflicts that can occur. The remainder of this note describes the procedure.

Complete the steps below to reduce conflicts during the installation.

Clean the CD or DVD

1. Place a small amount of nonabrasive, liquid soap on the shiny side of the CD or DVD.
2. Using your fingertips and warm water, gently rub the soap on the disc in a circular motion.
3. Rinse the disc thoroughly and dry it using a clean, soft T-shirt or lint-free towel. Do not use paper towels or tissue paper.
4. Install the program.

I couldn't help but laugh when I read these instructions for a "clean install". But seriously: Cleaning the CD might actually help if the error is caused by stains on the CD.

Pantaray adds MSI support to QSetup, releases free SuperOrca MSI editor

The QSetup family of products from Pantaray Research Ltd. used to produce setup programs for Windows using proprietary technology for many years. With the release of QSetup 9.0 Panatray recently added the ability to create setup files in the form of an MSI file as well as a traditional EXE file. Developers can decide at any time whether to generate an EXE or MSI installation from the same project definition. QSetup also includes an auto-update tool to notify end users when a new version of a product is available. MSI Support is only included in the PRO edition, not in the Studio or Lite editions.

Pantary also released a free MSI editor they call "SuperOrca". It is a direct replacement to the Orca MSI Editor from Microsoft. SuperOrca version 1.X is distributed free of charge.

• Pantaray web site
• Purchase QSetup PRO

Deploying VSTO Office Add-Ins with Windows Installer

If you are creating Office add-ins you may find this two-part MSDN article useful. It describes how to install add-ins created with Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO) using Windows Installer. The article uses Visual Studio to create the MSI.

• Deploying a Visual Studio Tools for the Office System 3.0 Solution for the 2007 Microsoft Office System Using Windows Installer (Part 1 of 2)
• Deploying a Visual Studio Tools for the Office System 3.0 Solution for the 2007 Microsoft Office System Using Windows Installer (Part 2 of 2)

Software Giveaways: MSDN Premium Subscription, SnagIt

I've got some software licenses that I plan to give away to members of the community:

One-year subscription of MSDN Premium with Visual Studio Team Suite (provided by Microsoft Corp). MSDN Premium includes:

• Operating systems, servers, office applications etc. which you can use for development and testing purposes
• Additionally one license of Office 2007 Ultimate for general use. Besides the typical office applications Office Ultimate also includes Publisher, InfoPath, OneNote, Project, Sharepoint Designer, Groove, and Visio.
• Visual Studio Team System 2008
• 4 technical support incidents

You'll receive updates to these products during the one year subscription. After the year you can continue to use these products even if you don't renew (but you won't receive any more updates). I consider MSDN an essential resource for any developer on Windows. More about MSDN. I'm very excited because this is a quite valuable gift: the retail price for MSDN Premium is approximately $11,000 !

SnagIt (provided by TechSmith Corp.). SnagIt is a powerful screen capture, editing and annotation tool. It captures graphics, text, automatically scrolls web pages and can preserve hyperlinks in web screenshots (or add your own hotspots) using Flash. I'm using SnagIt frequently to add screenshots to my forum posts. You'll receive a perpetual license for SnagIt 9 which includes minor updates for all 9.x versions. More about SnagIt. The regular price of SnagIt is approximately $50.

Nomination and drawing

If you know someone who should receive one of these licenses as a reward for his or her contributions to the installer community, please send an e-mail to giveaway@installsite.org . You are also welcome to nominate yourself. Please include the person's contact information and describe why you nominated him or her. I will then contact the nominees to confirm whether they agree to the rules of this giveaway, and which software they would like to receive if they get selected (for instance someone may already have a MSDN subscription and therefore prefer SnagIt).

The deadline for nominations is 31 August 2008.

If there are more candidates than available software packages the winners will be selected based on their community contributions and a random drawing.

Everyone may participate. Void where prohibited by law. The final decision will be made in my sole discretion and is non-disputable. All costs like taxes, customs or whatever are your responsibility. I will not be responsible for items lost in the mail. The name, location (city, state, country) and information about community activities of the candidates and winners may be published (please let me know if you don't want your information published).

The software is intended for your own use, it is not for resale (NFR). The license agreements of the respective software apply.

Windows Installer Version Matrix

This table shows released Windows Installer versions that are included or available as redistributables for the different versions of Windows. Pre-release or beta versions are not listed.

The data have been collected from various sources. If you find any inaccuracies or have additional information that should be added, please let me know: skrueger (at) installsite.org

This table is also available in my MSI FAQ (English / German) where you can always get the latest version.

LINQ to MSI

LINQ stands for Language-Integrated Query and enables you to directly query databases in .NET programming languages. In a series of blog posts Bart De Smet is writing a query provider to use LINQ for MSI databases. He emphasizes that it's a sample only, and I must admit that I don't understand all of it. But if you are a .NET programmer working with Windows Installer you may find this interesting.

The blog posts so far:

• LINQ to MSI - Part 0 - Introduction
• LINQ to MSI - Part 1 - Interop
• LINQ to MSI - Part 1 bis - Interop with SafeHandles
• LINQ to MSI - Part 2 - Queryable without an I

Tarma Installer 5.2 released

Tarma Software Research announces the release of Tarma Installer 5.2. Tarma Installer 5 helps you to create installation ("Setup") programs for your own software product. Major new features of Tarma Installer 5 include support for x64 Windows versions, .Net support, support for Windows side-by-side assemblies and Windows mobile installers, fully editable installer dialogs and dialog sequences, fully editable installer action sequences, and comprehensive localization support. The 5.2 release adds full support for Windows mobile installers.

With Tarma Installer 5 you can install and remove programs, documents, images, multi-media files, TrueType® and OpenType® fonts, .Net assemblies, ActiveX controls, COM servers, type libraries, WinHelp files, device drivers, services, registry updates, INI files, environment variables, program groups, shortcuts, and third-party tools.

The Tarma development environment, its project files, and the Tarma installation database and Setup program are Unicode-based from the ground up to ensure that all localization remains intact. Tarma installer 5 supports feature and component based installation as well as add-on and update installers and can import MSI merge modules.

The development environment is intuitive and easy to use and boasts more than 500 different preflight checks to spot potential problems before you deploy your installation. Tarma Installer 5 is small, fast, and has excellent compression, making your installation packages as compact as possible, thus saving download time and disk space.

To evaluate Tarma Installer 5, users can download an unlimited trial version from the company's website.

• Product information and trial download
• 20% discount coupon for InstallSite users

(Text based on a press release from Tarma Software Research Pty)

WinINSTALL acquired by Scalable Software

Scalable Software Limited, a leader in IT Asset Lifecycle Management solutions, announced on June 30, 2008 that it has completed the acquisition of the WinINSTALL® Desktop Management business from Attachmate of Seattle, Wash. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Rod Trent writes in his myITforum blog: "The WinInstall software management application has been passed around more than Aunt Betty during an early 70’s key party". Well, the history as far as I recall it:

• WinINSTALL was originally developed by OnDemand Software.
• When the free WinINSTALL 2000 LE edition was included on the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server CD, the product was owned by Veritas.
• On June 28, 2002 it was re-acquired by OnDemand Software, Inc.
• On March 7, 2006 AttachmateWRQ (now Attachmate Corporation) acquired the company and the product. On a side note: Thoma Cressy Bravo (TCB), the investment firm that acquired InstallShield from Macrovision, also has an investment interest in Attachmate.
• On June 30, 2008 Scalable Software LLC acquired the WinINSTALL business unit from Attachmate.

From the web site it seems like WinINSTALL isn't exactly up to date to the latest techologies. When it says that it "supports the latest MSI schema" that probably doesn't include MSI 4.5. The system requirements for the WinINSTALL Console list Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. WinINSTALL ships with MSDE 8 but also supports SQL Server 2000 and Oracle 9i. No mention of SQL Server 2005, Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008.

More information:

• Press release
• Scalable Software LLC homepage
• WinINSTALL product page (with free WinINSTALL LE download)

New Advanced Installer 6.4 brings support for transactions in SQL scripts and 64-bit Java

On June 16th, 2008 Caphyon Ltd. announced the latest edition of its Windows Installer authoring tool. The new Advanced Installer enables developers and system administrators to easily build and repackage complex applications into reliable, ready to deploy MSI and EXE installers, patches and on-line updates.

The 6.4 version adds full transaction support for SQL scripts and the ability to automatically discover and display Microsoft SQL Servers available on the network at install time.

Collaboration of multiple developers on different computers is even easier with the addition of custom, per-machine configurable project path Variables. A friendly wizard automates the conversion process.

Full 64-bit support for Java programs is provided with a native 64-bit version of the Java launcher which can load your application into a discovered (or optionally bundled) 64-bit Java Runtime Environment.

Other improvements in this version:

• Full transaction support for running SQL Scripts
• Auto-discovery and browse of MS SQL Servers available on the network at install
• Ability to use custom, configurable Variables in project paths
• Wizard for auto-conversion of project paths to Path Variables
• Smart cabbing eliminates duplication of content from cabinets
• Native 64-bit version of Java launcher
• Optional 64-bit JRE bundle
• Native Unicode version of EXE bootstrapper
• Synchronizing information extracted from a COM files

Advanced Installer is available in four editions, starting with the Freeware community edition and offering a 30-day trial period for the other editions.

For more information about Advanced Installer please see:
www.installsite.biz/advancedinstaller.htm

(Text based on a press release from Caphyon Ltd.)