Symantec discontinues Wise Installation Studio and Wise Installation Express
According to a confirmed post in the Symantec forums, the following message has been sent to users of the Wise setup authoring tools:
End of Availability for Wise Installation Studio and Wise Installation Express.
Dear Valued Customer,
This letter is to notify you that Symantec is announcing the end-of-availability of Wise Installation Studio and Wise Installation Express.
Effective April 19, 2010, Symantec will no longer be accepting orders for new licenses of Wise Installation Studio or Wise Installation Express. In addition, Symantec will no longer be accepting renewals for maintenance agreements related to Wise Installation Studio effective April 19, 2010.
Sincerely,
Symantec Corporation
This means that Wise Installation Studio and Wise Installation Express version 7.0 SP2 mark the end of these product lines for software developers..
However Wise Package Studio, the sibling product line for IT administrators and repackagers, will continue and projects can be moved over.
Years ago Wise used to be InstallShield's main competitor. After Altiris acquired Wise in 2003 focus moved to the Package Studio product line, but the developer products were still maintained and updated along the way. In 2007 Altiris was acquired by Symantec and after that no major upgrades have been released for Wise Installation Studio and Wise Installation Express, there were only service packs. However, development of Wise Package Studio (the competitor to AdminStudio) continues.