Sinan at InstallAware has just posted an interesting read:
Viresh: Did He Make or Break InstallAware?
While some of it is questionable, if you have an interest in the behind the scenes opinions of this industry it's really worth reading the entire article. He goes into such topics as the war between Rob and InstallAware, the copying of the ZeroG website (along with an attack on Stefan Krueger ), what he really thinks about WiX and his own product WiXAware and behind the scenes poaching of InstallShield employees and alleged poor quality code they delivered to him
Interestingly he also claims that only he and Rob Mensching have innovated in the last year and leaves me out of his rant.
He also mentions not liking a strategy of having a very thin IDE on top of WiX. Funny, this is exactly where I'm trying to go with IsWiX. I think with the right investment and development staff I could make a really good go at it but I'm not crazy enough to try. This market is too saturated and mature in my opinion.
I saw this a few weeks ago and read it like an article out of Star magazine. Pure smut, little intellectual depth, but none-the-less fun to read over my lunch break.
ReplyDeleteSome of it is smut, but some of it is quite revealing.
ReplyDeleteNow I understand why WiXAware was so buggy and never went anywhere. They were making a product that even they didn't agree in.
Sadly, it's the product that I actually want. I want a full IDE on top of WiX. I wish someone would do it but after waiting 4 years for it to happen I finally decided to start the IsWiX project.
IsWiX only covers a tiny percentage of what WiX can do but it doesn't hide any of it either. I use it in combination with InstallShield and my problems are solved.
Chris, when I use your IsWix, first I get when loading a wxs are a lot error message boxes from it, complaining about missing WiX elements etc.
ReplyDeleteFrom user perspective this is a showstopper, think of WiX beginners it must be a frustrating thing to be confronted with 5 modal message boxes in order when loading a WiX file for first time in your IDE and not knowing what it is about.
I think this is the time when this first-time user closes your application and never use it again.
Please have a look at wixedit or war setup.
Personally I would love to see your product getting really professional, because of your background expertise in deployment area, but you should work on it full time, not only part time.
I think this is why you can't be compared to Sinan and Rob, these guys own their own businesses and work on it all the time.
IsWiX isn't a product and if I worked on it full time I would be homeless. It was an internal tools project where I work then transferred to me so that I could share it.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't intended to be a full blown Install Editor. It covers a very narrow user story similar to InstallShield Collaboration.
I'd love to grow it beyond that if I ever have time. What I really need to do for bow is document the installer framework that IsWIX fits into. (Think Rails for WiX)