Thank you for the feedback, really appreciate it. After talking to InstallShield tech support, we were told features we were looking for aren't supported and there's no guarantee they'd implement them anytime soon. Also, we decided to move away from InstallShield because of customizability/source control/internationalization issues.
Just FYI, most of the items on the your list are either supported by NSIS by default or easily written yourself and it's not hard to learn. I wrote a rather complicated bootstrapper ( to learn NSIS ) and it took only a few days :) I agree that InstallShield has tons of companies using it and they seem solid. I will not agree it's bulletproof, we've found bugs that are still not fixed ( several years later ). Alex On Aug 31, 2010, at 11:28 AM, Christopher Painter wrote: > For the same reason why you'd use MSI standard actions and WiXExtensions over > writing your own CA's. Just as they have a data model and have been well > tested, so do InstallShield setup prerequisites. > > > Basically InstallShield's setup.exe already provides me with things like: > > self extracting > code signing > manifesting > web download > multiple instance servicing > language selection > package caching > running packages before the install > running packages only if features are selected > patch invocation > silent execution > > and so on. It gives me the ability to extend this with open PRQ files ( XSD > based XML documents that describe packages. ) > http://blog.deploymentengineering.com/2006/11/using-installshield-12-to-install-net.html > > > It would take me an inordinate amount of time in any programming language to > implement all of this and make sure it's extendable and bullet proof. Don't > believe me? How many years has burn been in development? > > That said, I'm very interested in seeing Burn come to life. I will evaluate > it > against InstallShield and decide which one is better for my needs. > > Chris > > Christopher Painter, Author of Deployment Engineering Blog > Have a hot tip, know a secret or read a really good thread that deserves > attention? E-Mail Me > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: "Goryuk, Alex" <agor...@rosettastone.com> > To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. > <wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net> > Sent: Tue, August 31, 2010 8:34:49 AM > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Bootstrapping and Burn > > Interesting reaction, care to explain why you wouldn't use NSIS as a > bootstrapper? > > Out of the following: > http://www.installsite.org/pages/en/msi/tips.htm#Launchers > http://makemsi-manual.dennisbareis.com/bootstrapper_exe_programs.htm > InstallShield's bootstrapper > > I haven't found a single one that can be automated, scripted, pass parameters > to > the bootstrapper, currently updated by the community / open source and works > on > every platform that currently exists and with the extensibility of NSIS. > > Alex > > > On Aug 31, 2010, at 9:22 AM, Christopher Painter wrote: > > NSIS? Sorry, I'd rather go to the dentist. > > Christopher Painter, Author of Deployment Engineering Blog > Have a hot tip, know a secret or read a really good thread that deserves > attention? E-Mail Me > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: "Goryuk, Alex" > <agor...@rosettastone.com<mailto:agor...@rosettastone.com>> > To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. > <wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net<mailto:wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net>> > Sent: Tue, August 31, 2010 8:10:20 AM > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Bootstrapping and Burn > > Have you guys tried using NSIS http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Main_Page ? > > On Aug 30, 2010, at 11:36 AM, Christopher Painter wrote: > > I've looked at dotNetInstaller and while it looks very interesting, there is > no > > way you are going to learn that tool and get a working bootstrapper in 15 > minutes. > > Christopher Painter, Author of Deployment Engineering Blog > Have a hot tip, know a secret or read a really good thread that deserves > attention? E-Mail Me > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: dB. <dbl...@dblock.org<mailto:dbl...@dblock.org>> > To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. > <wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net<mailto:wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net>> > Sent: Mon, August 30, 2010 8:23:36 AM > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Bootstrapping and Burn > > http://dotnetinstaller.codeplex.com will get you there in 15 minutes or so. > > dB. @ dblock.org<http://dblock.org> > Moscow|Geneva|Seattle|New York > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Bruce Cran [mailto:br...@cran.org.uk] > Sent: Monday, August 30, 2010 4:46 AM > To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net<mailto:wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net> > Subject: [WiX-users] Bootstrapping and Burn > > Hi, > > I realise Burn has been removed from WiX 3.5, but I'm wondering if the > Visual Studio bootstrapper would be a good substitute or if I should > wait for a 3.6 snapshot. My main requirement is a single file that > users can download to do the installation, since I hate having a > setup.exe and MSI file because it's confusing and seems unnecessary. > The only component of Burn I've ever used before is setupbld, but I'm > wondering - will the output of Burn be a single exe, or will it be like > VS where you have to package lots of MSIs and an exe into a zip file > for distribution? > > -- > Bruce Cran > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Sell apps to millions through the Intel(R) Atom(Tm) Developer Program > Be part of this innovative community and reach millions of netbook users > worldwide. Take advantage of special opportunities to increase revenue and > speed time-to-market. Join now, and jumpstart your future. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-atom-d2d > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net<mailto:WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Sell apps to millions through the Intel(R) Atom(Tm) Developer Program > Be part of this innovative community and reach millions of netbook users > worldwide. Take advantage of special opportunities to increase revenue and > speed time-to-market. Join now, and jumpstart your future. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-atom-d2d > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net<mailto:WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Sell apps to millions through the Intel(R) Atom(Tm) Developer Program > Be part of this innovative community and reach millions of netbook users > worldwide. Take advantage of special opportunities to increase revenue and > speed time-to-market. Join now, and jumpstart your future. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-atom-d2d > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net<mailto:WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > This SF.net<http://SF.net> Dev2Dev email is sponsored by: > > Show off your parallel programming skills. > Enter the Intel(R) Threading Challenge 2010. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-thread-sfd > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > This SF.net Dev2Dev email is sponsored by: > > Show off your parallel programming skills. > Enter the Intel(R) Threading Challenge 2010. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-thread-sfd > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > This SF.net Dev2Dev email is sponsored by: > > Show off your parallel programming skills. > Enter the Intel(R) Threading Challenge 2010. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-thread-sfd > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > This SF.net Dev2Dev email is sponsored by: > > Show off your parallel programming skills. > Enter the Intel(R) Threading Challenge 2010. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-thread-sfd > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF.net Dev2Dev email is sponsored by: Show off your parallel programming skills. Enter the Intel(R) Threading Challenge 2010. http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-thread-sfd _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
