tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985159635193633235.post6673815596626255410..comments2024-03-25T00:30:02.127-07:00Comments on ISWIX: Having a Clue Shouldn't Be OptionalChristopher Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167478740431444267noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985159635193633235.post-74922034438976594222008-04-24T22:28:00.000-07:002008-04-24T22:28:00.000-07:00Christopher,I guess I don't understand the us ...Christopher,<br><br>I guess I don't understand the us VS. them mentality that this post is trying to convey. I am a professional developer with 10+ years of experience as yourself.<br><br>To me it seems that you are hawking a particular installation technology. I have followed your blog for quite some time. Recently, I have felt that the blog discussion has coalesced around disapproval of WIX as a viable installation toolset and InstallShield as the one true toolset in the darkness to bind them all. This may/may not be the case.<br><br>However, the last few posts seem to indicate this conclusion.<br><br>Admittedly, VDPROJ are retarded. However, what is wrong with the Votive view of the world. I happen to agree with Rob when he says that the person responsible for the feature should also author the setup for the feature. I am one of those Enterprise developers that doesn't usually put a UI on my MSI. And you know what my Systems Administrators love that. It is one less thing that they have to feed/configure/understand/tame. They can configure it as needed but usually don't because we have collaborated on the details. <br><br>In addition, I truly enjoy the fact that from a development perspective my install code is now version controlled. Personally I have never used InstallShield, so I do not know if it is as easily version controlled as WIX projects. I have used the Wise product in the past and found it to be an abomination. Likewise the VDPROJ as stated earlier is retarded. Click-Once is an abomination!<br><br>I have spent a significant amount of time supporting users and installations. Our corporate policy used to be quite lax. Last year I convinced the corporate establishment that we needed tighter controls over the install base. The only way to accomplish this from a corporate perspective was to promote MSI as the install vehicle. The only way to get corporate IT to buy-in in to this concept was to use a no-cost solution. WIX fit the bill. If I had had to sell an additional licensing cost per build/deployment to the administration staff and my higher ups I would have been crucified.<br><br>I am sure that InstallShield has some advanced features that WIX does not offer. However, I am willing to stake my claim on it for the time being until the bigger players become more competitive with the free nature of wIX and its good enough nature4/25/2008 12:25:06 AM.<br><br>I have probably made myself open to be crucified after these statements. Here are my hands.<br><br>Thanks,<br>KirkAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985159635193633235.post-51032102018688236752008-04-25T09:35:00.000-07:002008-04-25T09:35:00.000-07:00Kirk,WiX has its value; however, I think it depend...Kirk,<br><br>WiX has its value; however, I think it depends on what you're looking for.<br><br>IS provides a laundry list of features that WiX cannot and with IS 2009, it only proves to be longer.<br><br>I think anyone can be a talented, quick developer with WiX; however, when you know what you're doing I personally believe (unsubstantiated) that InstallShield can do what you can with WiX faster.<br><br>WiX is good for what it's good at doing, but I wouldn't go so far as to say InstallShield is competing with it. They are two different market places.<br><br>Plus it wouldn't make sense to rebuff on someone ragging on InstallShield specifically using WiX unless you were doing an advertisement for WiX.ShadowWolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170306422408594103noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985159635193633235.post-12789227437528702242008-04-25T13:11:00.000-07:002008-04-25T13:11:00.000-07:00Shadow- You are right, this wasn't really a po...Shadow-<br><br> You are right, this wasn't really a post about WiX... I only mentioned it in passing to say that InstallShield better get it's house in order or more developers will turn to whatever is in the next version of Visual Studio, which just happens to be WiX based because WiX has a much better image these days with many developers.<br><br>Kirk- <br><br>Read more of my posts to see that I actually like a lot of things I like about both WiX and InstallShield. The problem is the `good enough` attitude where the tools are praised and the customers stories are ignored. Sadly this attitude comes from both camps to a degree. I personally think it's much more prevelant from the WiX camp ( which has a reputation of ignoring customer stories and dismissing bugs as `hey, it's only my part time job`. but many think InstallShield takes the cake for bugs not fixed release after release. but much more so from the WiX camp. Anyways, if you were to hang with me for a few hours as I compare / contrast the tools, I believe you would begin to see my point of view.<br><br>I believe we do need to see a blend of the two philosphies coming together to become the one product to `consume` ( code sense, not world domination ) them all. I'm hoping Rosario will be much closer to this but I doubt it will be 100% there.<br><br>In a perfect world, I would also like think that developers should contribute to setup development. But note that you said you were a developer, not a setup developer with 10 years of experience. While I'm sure you are professional, that very distinction is what I was talking about in my blog. The vast majority of developers a) know very little about deployment b) unknowingly accept antipatterns as `good enough` and c) don't really want to touch deployment with a ten foot pole.Christopher Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167478740431444267noreply@blogger.com