On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 12:40:17 +0100, Joerg Barfurth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [SNIP] > > Ok. I see, distributive set contains three files - .cab/.msi (with OOo > > itself) and two (why two, BTW?) MSI own installers (how big, BTW?). > > I assume one of them is for Windows NT, the other for 9x/ME. For > authoritative information look at http://www.microsoft.com or in the > documentation of the MSI SDK. > I gave some links in an earrlier post. Let me post again, and provide a little further explanation of MSI as far as I know.
See these pages: Windows Installer 2.0 Redistributable for Windows 95, 98, and Me (instmsia.exe) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=CEBBACD8-C094-4255-B702-DE3BB768148F Windows Installer 2.0 Redistributable for Windows NT 4.0 and 2000 (instmsiw.exe) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=4B6140F9-2D36-4977-8FA1-6F8A0F5DCA8F To begin an installation of any program using MSI the user begins the 'setup.exe' or equivalent app. This app does the following: a) Check for required version of MSI for this installation (No need to check this on XP as it is always there) b) If found go to (c) otherwise run instmsia.exe (for 9x,ME) or instmsiw.exe (for NT 4, 2000) in the install folder. These programs install MSI for the installation process. c) run the .msi file in the install folder through the msiexec.exe that is installed (possibly just barely installed) d) installation of the app begins. Note that this means that the user doesn't need to know about the instmsi*.exe files. The only thing they need to touch in the install folder is "setup.exe". Everything else is 'automated' (meaning that it doesn't require user intervention. No manually copying files, no running installers in install the installer. Nothing is round about.) MSI hides the complexity of the installation from the user. What this means? Your arguments are not valid. The user will not be required to download the app separatly. It is packeged with OOo. The user will not be required to run another installer separatly, the process is integrated into MSI. Also, copying from machine to machine is a lot more work than simply specifying an entry in the policy management console of a win server. Many times an initial install might be ghosted (say with Norton Ghost) but this is not done for successive updates. I can specify a single entry for the organization I administer and come back the next day to find OOo installed on all of the machines. This is not just a luxury it is a requirement. If I had to spend the time installing things on every machine (or copying things from machine to machine) It'd take a lot more time to do with the ~300 machines at this location. It'd also take up a lot of the network switching power as several gigs of data are copied 300 times from machine to machine. Copying might be employed in smaller organizations, but is ineffective at least for the one I'm over. Thanks, Jacob --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
