InstallSite Blog

New Advanced Installer 6.3 brings Vista Games Explorer integration and Visual Studio Setup projects import

On May 9th, 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 6.3 version delivers tremendous time-saving features for game developers: one-click integration in Windows Vista's Games Explorer and registration in Windows Media Center.

Also new is an advanced, full-control mode for media volumes and CAB archive settings, allowing you to finely tune the way your products are compressed, packaged and delivered to your customers.

You can quickly convert your existing Microsoft Visual Studio Setup projects to Advanced Installer using the new addition to its powerful import capabilities.

Other improvements in this version:

• Full Windows Games Explorer integration and Media Center registration support
• Importing Visual Studio Setup projects
• Authoring patches in form of downloadable EXE files
• Another new addition full customization capabilities for media volumes and CAB archives in advanced mode
• Aero Wizard style on Vista for Updater
• Repeat support for Scheduled Tasks
• Predefined Java Runtime Environment launch condition
• Predefined Custom Actions for handling data in ListBox and ComboBox controls
• New Build Content tab for at-a-glance build reports
• Status page displayed in Bootstrapper when prerequisites searches are performed
• Command Line option to specify languages to be included in the package
• Sandbox testing of Prerequisite conditions
• Building packages only in a specified language

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.)

Webcast: Application Virtualization with AdminStudio and Thinstall

On Wednesday, May 14, VMware (makers of Thinstall) and Acresso (makers of AdminStudio) will hold a free online webcast titled "Application Virtualization Reduces Costs with Conflict Free Applications".

Description:

Use Thinstall and AdminStudio to reduce costs by delivering conflict free, virtualized applications. VMware Thinstall lets you deploy virtual applications that require no client-side agents or server infrastructure, making them ideal for many environments. AdminStudio now gives you the power to quickly create, edit and test Thinstall virtual applications with the ability to automatically convert MSIs directly to Thinstall virtual packages and deploy via your software delivery tool of choice. When used in combination, these solutions help to cut IT costs by eliminating potential conflicts between applications, reducing OS migration dependencies and leveraging existing infrastructure. Whether you are working with one or several management tools, the combined solution enables you to standardize your packaging processes to deploy conflict free applications across virtual and physical desktops throughout the extended enterprise.

View this Webcast to learn how VMware Thinstall and Acresso AdminStudio can help you:

• Slash support costs by 25% by eliminating application conflicts
• Cut application time to deployment from months to days
• Eliminate costly conversion and testing overhead
• Reduce application and OS (XP, Vista) migration costs and user impact

Date and Time:
May 14th 2008
16:00 UTC = 09:00 AM Pacific = 18:00 Germany
other time zones

Register for the webcast

You can buy Thinstall and AdminStudio from the InstallSite Shop.

Basic Introduction to InstallShield and Windows Installer

Found a nice blog article by Susan Gorman that introduces Windows Installer and InstallShield's role:

• Basic Introduction to InstallShield and Windows Installer

Upgrade offer for old InstallShield and AdminStudio versions

There's currently a special offer that allows owners of InstallShield and AdminStudio to upgrade to the current version at a reduced price. InstallShield versions older than 11.0 and AdminStudio versions older than 7.0 are no longer entitled to regular upgrade pricing. However users of these version can now get a 30% discount off the full version when ordering before May 30.

The offer applies to the following product versions (overview, please send your serial number for detailed verification):

For upgrades to InstallShield 2008 Premier, Professional or Express:

• InstallShield X and 10.5
• InstallShield DevStudio 9
• InstallShield Developer 7.x -8.x
• InstallShield Professional 5.x-7.x
• InstallShield for Windows Installer 1.x-2.x
• InstallShield 3
• InstallShield X Express
• InstallShield Express 2.x-5.x

For upgrades to AdminStudio 8.6:

• AdminStudio 1.x-6.x

This is a good chance to move to a supported version if you didn't upgrade for a longer timer. If you want to take advantage of this offer, please don't wait for the last day. Verifying the serial number of your (very) old product may require some research and discussion with the manufacturer, which might take a few days.

For owners of supported versions (InstallShield 11.0-12.0 and AdminStudio 7.0-8.5) there's also a discount offer: they will receive 10% off the upgrade price when ordering before May 30.

For more information and ordering:
InstallSite Shop

Meeting with the Windows Installer Team

Yesterday, as part of the Microsoft MVP Global Summit, I was sitting down with the Windows Installer team: Tyler Robinson (PM), Hemchander "Hem" Sannidhanam, Mark Rovetta (doc writer), and Carolyn Napier (dev lead). We had some great discussions, but unfortunately most of the topics are under NDA.

But I think I can share a bit of what I told them: I thanked Hem for his recent posts on the MSI Team Blog about new features in MSI 4.5, and I encouraged him and the other team members to keep blogging more frequently. I also asked them to blog not only about new features and major changes, but also about seemingly small improvements and fixes. Typically, there are no comprehensive release notes when a new version of Windows Installer ships, and the blog could compensate for this.

For me, one important takeaway from the meeting was that the MSI team is really willing to improve Windows Installer. They are taking user concerns and requests serious. In the past they haven't always been able to address these, but I think we can expect some improvement in the time to come. (Sorry that I can't be more specific, but keep an eye on their blog)

Traveling to the Microsoft MVP Summit

On April 1st, Microsoft has awarded me (again) as a Most Valuable Professional (MVP) in the area of Setup & Deployment:

click to enlarge

Each year, MVPs are invited to a global summit at Seattle and on the Microsoft campus in Redmond. This is a great chance to meet with the Windows Installer team, other Microsofties and fellow MVPs . So I'll be traveling to Seattle from April 12-19. The schedule is filled with sessions from early morning until late in the evening (we'll have some fun, too :) ). Therefore I apologize in advance for being slow in replying to e-mails and not checking the forums frequently.

Tarma Installer 5 released

Press release from Tarma Software Research Pty:

Tarma Software Research announces the release of Tarma Installer 5. 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, fully editable installer dialogs and dialog sequences, fully editable installer action sequences, and comprehensive localization support.

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

Web Server Maintenance - Back online

The web server which is hosting parts of InstallSite (like the forum) is currently offline after a hard disk failure. It should be back within a few hours. I apologize for the inconvenience.

UPDATE: The server is back online. Took longer than expected  - sorry.

One-Click Install (OCI) Security Vulnerability in InstallShield 12

A security vulnerability has been reported in the One-Click Install ActiveX control in InstallShield 12. The problem only exists in the InstallScript project type; Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI are not affected. The vulnerability only exists in InstallShield version 12. A fix is available. If you are using One-Click Installs (OCI) in InstallShield 12 you should install the fix, rebuild your setup and update your HTML code with the new control.

• InstallShield knowledge base article Q113640

Acresso Software now owns InstallShield etc.

As of today, Acresso Software is the new company that produces the InstallShield, InstallAnywhere, AdminStudio and FLEXnet product families.

Back in February, Macrovision Corp. announced that they are selling their Software Business Unit to private equity firm Thoma Cressey Bravo (TCB) for $200 million. This resulted in a stand-alone company called Acresso Software Inc.

I don't know how they made up the company name, maybe it's taken from the owning company: THOMA CRESSEY BRAVO

The new company is located in Schaumburg near Chicago, the former headquarters of InstallShield Software Corp. According to information given in a conference call in February, the new company not only took over the software and know how from Macrovision, but also all the employees from Macrovision's software unit as well as some people from shared services such as marketing.

I don't know yet when and how the products will be re-branded.

• Press release
• Acresso.com web site

MSI 4.5 Beta Chat, and change in the MSI team

On April 3, 2008 there will be a chat with the MSI team at Microsoft about MSI 4.5 beta. The chat is public (not limited to beta testers) and will start at 10 a.m. PDT, which is equivalent to 17:00 UTC.

• additional time zones
• add to calendar
• enter chat room (requires Windows Live ID)
• announcement on the MSI team blog

The msi team also plans to publish MSI 4.5 beta 2 "within the next few weeks". This will be the last beta before RTM.

New/old MSI program manager

There's also a change in leadership of the MSI team. Robert Flaming is leaving the MSI team and moving to Microsoft's Developer Division where he'll work to improve "the logistical hand-offs between developer and user" (which I guess will also include setup & deployment topics).

Tyler Robinson returns as the program manager for Windows Installer, after being away from the MSI team for almost a year.

New Advanced Installer 6.2 brings MSI, MSM and Eclipse projects import

On March 6th, 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 6.2 version focuses on further shortening the time required to create new MSI installers. Import your existing Eclipse projects for your Java products, take advantage of the new wizards to quickly create unified 32/64-bit installers, save ready-to-use templates for your future projects.

Additional Prerequisites and launch conditions are readily defined to be included in your installers with just a mouse click: .Net Framework 3.5, Adobe Acrobat Reader and the new service packs for Windows XP (SP3), Vista (SP1) and Server 2008.

A powerful import feature can handle both MSI installers and MSM merge modules allowing you to open and edit completed, third-party packages for further easy customization in Advanced Installer before deployment.

Other improvements in this version:

• Importing Eclipse projects into For Java projects
• Importing merge modules into new or existing projects
• Importing MSIs into existing projects
• Template projects
• Ability to define Searches per each build
• Ability to define Launch Conditions per each build
• Wizard for creating new features
• Wizard for creating unified 32/64-bit packages
• Predefined .Net Framework 3.5 launch condition and prerequisite
• Predefined Acrobat Reader prerequisite and launch condition
• Newly released OS Service Packs launch conditions
• Serbian language localization
• Catalan language localization
• MSI-like wizard-style bootstrapper UI with customizable dialog and banner images
• Bootstrapper command line for setting installation language
• Ability to merge 64-bit merge modules into mixed 32/64-bit packages

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.)