InstallSite Blog

Windows 7 Beta Testers – don’t miss the Live Meeting and Chat on MSI 5

Next week’s feature focus in the Windows 7 beta test will be on Windows Installer (and on Devices and Printers). As part of that, there’ll be a Live Meeting on Monday, March 2, and a chat on Thursday, March 5. These events are open to registered beta testers of Windows 7 and can be accessed from the calendar on Microsoft Connect.

In addition, there are a number of MSI related test tasks on Microsoft’s Scenario Feedback site.

Live Essentials Update Rant

Today when I tried to log in to Live Messenger I was notified of a required update. The dialog said that I must install this update before I can log in, so it’s not an optional update. The update itself didn’t come as a surprise, I had read about it some days ago on the Windows Live Team blog, however they said it would be an optional upgrade.

During the installation I was presented with this dialog (I’m using the German version, so apologies to those who don’t speak German):

In the bottom left it lists the programs that will be updated. Besides Messenger there’s also Photo Gallery and Writer. These are all the programs from the Live Essentials suite that I have installed, and it’s understandable that their versions should be kept in sync, so no problem here.

But in the upper left are all the Live Essential programs that  have chosen NOT to install. And as you can see they are all selected for installation (except Movie Maker because it’s still in beta). Why can’t the Live Essentials installer remember and respect my previous selection? Why does it try to push these other programs on me when all I wanted to do is update Live Messenger?

This attitude continues in the final step of the install. As you may have guessed already, the installer wants to change my default search provider and my browser homepage:

I can (and did) de-select those options, but why are they selected by default? I feel like the Live installer is trying to trick me into doing things that I don’t want to do. And all this just for a tiny Messenger update from version 14.0.8050.1202 to version 14.0.8064.0206.

Preparing for MVP Summit – Your Questions for the MSI Team?

It’s MVP Summit time again! Next week I’ll be travelling to Seattle and Redmond to attend the MVP Global Summit, an event where Microsoft invites MVPs from around the world to hear about the latest technologies, meet the product teams, network, and also have a little fun :)

For me this means that I’ll have the opportunity to sit down with the Windows Installer team (including their documentation writer) and also folks from the WiX team.

Now I have this idea to not only ask my own questions, but also on behalf of my blog readers. So is there anything you always (or recently) wanted to ask the MSI team or some feedback you want to give them? Please let me know. Either post your question as a comment on the blog or send it to me by e-mail skrueger [at] installsite.org

Of course I can’t promise that your questions will be answered (or in some cases I may not be allowed to publish the answer if it’s under NDA). But it’s worth a try.

30% Discount off InstallShield and InstallAnywhere Upgrades through April

For a limited time you can save 30% when upgrading to the latest versions of InstallShield or InstallAnywhere.

This offer is valid for upgrades from InstallShield 12 or InstallShield 2008 to InstallShield 2009 and from InstallAnywhere 8, InstallAnywhere 2008 or InstallAnywhere 2008 Value Pack 1 to InstallAnywhere 2009.

In addition to pure upgrades the offer is also valid for upgrades bundled with a maintenance plan. (It is not valid for full products, maintenance renewals or end-of-live products.)

This special offer runs until April 30, 2009.

You can buy InstallShield and InstallAnywhere from the InstallSite Shop

FLEXnet Connect 6.1 Security Update

Acresso has published a fix for a security issue in FLEXnet Connect (previously called InstallShield Update Service) that was reported in September 2008.

The problem was that FLEXnet connect used an unauthenticated HTTP connection to download and execute scripts from the update server. Therefore an attacker could cause the client to execute malicious scripts, for instance by redirecting the connection using a proxy or a DNS attack.

The update is only available for FLEXnet Connect version 6.1. According to the US-CERT FLEXnet Connect version 11.1.100.17104 or higher is not affected by the problem.

Acresso’s knowledge base article about the security update has no technical details about how the problem was fixed.

The update is available for the FLEXnet Connect client agent which is already installed on end users’ computers and for the FLEXnet Connect SDK which developers adding FLEXnet Connect to their setup should install on their development machines.

To deploy the end user hotfix to your customers, create and publish an update to your product, as described in the knowledge base article.

To install the fixed SDK, you must first manually uninstall the previous version from your development machine (I wonder why Acresso isn’t using a Major Upgrade for this purpose).

New Advanced Installer 6.8 brings Inno Setup project importing

On February 5th, 2009 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 6.8 version makes switching to Windows Installer easier than ever before by importing Inno Setup  projects. Move to MSI setups without losing the time and effort already invested into your installers.

New predefined Custom Actions allow you to list all databases users can connect to in the installation UI, detect processes or services and call any function in any standard DLL.

Customize multiple installers generated from a single project with different GUI themes according to each target market and audience.

Other improvements in this version:

• Import Inno Setup projects
• Call function from standard DLL predefined custom action
• Ability to add new dialogs directly in the UI Sequence
• List all databases the user can connect to
• Detect process and stop process predefined custom actions
• Detect service predefined custom action
• Per-build GUI themes
• Ability to condition standard actions
• Detailed information when trying to remove a referenced file, folder or property
• Wizard for "Browse IIS Websites & Virtual Directories" predefined custom action
• Wizard for "Browse for SQL Servers" predefined custom action
• Installed Office 2003 application 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.)

VMware looking for Senior Software Engineer MSI/C/C++

This is a job opening at the VMware Headquarters in Palo Alto, CA (USA). VMware is looking for smart C/C++ developers that have experience developing MSI packages. This opportunity is for an onsite developer to help lead the development of new MSI technologies at VMware as well as to mentor the younger developers on the team. If you are interested in this position, or know someone who might be, please contact Antonio Busalacchi (antonio.busalacchi@gmail.com).

Senior Software Engineer – Product Infrastructure Team

Description

VMware’s Product Infrastructure Team (PIT) is looking for a strong software engineer to help design and implement features and infrastructure for use in packaging VMware’s Desktop products. The PIT-Package team is responsible for the installers, packaging, and OS integration for VMware's Desktop product lines as well as providing frameworks that are used by teams across the entire company to solve complex installer and packaging problems.

PIT is a group of engineers that work with a broad variety of technologies, programming languages and OS platforms to solve the problems faced by all of VMware's Desktop products. People on the team are very passionate about their work and are looking for similarly motivated and flexible software engineers.

Responsibilities

• Invent, design, and implement novel features and enhancements for VMware's Desktop product installers.
• Design and own key components of our infrastructure.
• Support VMware product releases by maintaining packaging software on Windows, OS X, and Linux.
• Develop flexible, reusable code that can be shared in multiple components across several operating systems.
• Interact with other product teams, customer support organization and the release team.

Requirements

• BS or MS in Engineering or CS and 5+ years of commercial software product development experience, or equivalent experience
• Strong coding skills in C/C++.
• Experience in a variety of technical areas.
• Familiarity with Windows application programming (COM/Win32/MFC/ATL) or Linux application programming (gtk2).
• Familiarity with packaging/installation technology (MSI for Windows, RPM/tar/apt for Linux).
• Cross-platform (Linux, OS X, and Windows) experience desirable.
• Experience with desktop integration (Windows shell or KDE/Gnome desktop) a plus.
• Experience with scripting languages (vbscript/Perl/Python/shell) a plus.
• Must be motivated, detail-oriented, have the ability to thrive in a team environment.
• Very strong analytical skills, good judgment, passion for your work.
• Good design skills and insight about usability.
• Good teamwork and communication skills.
• Ability to work under deadlines.

Windows 7 Logo Requirements

Microsoft has published a preview of the “Technical Requirements for the Windows 7 Software Logo Program for Client Operating Systems”. The list of requirements is significantly shorter than in previous versions of Windows. The use of Windows Installer (MSI) or ClickOnce is no longer listed as an explicit requirement.

Software developers can now self-test their application for compatibility, external test centers are no longer involved in the process. Instead they have to give a copy (and license) of their application to Microsoft for testing purposes.

Microsoft will hold the ISVs responsible for their products: ISVs must to agree to a 30-90 day resolution policy for all issues identified in market with logo’d products.

• Windows 7 Logo Program
• Windows 7 Application Quality Cookbook