InstallShield or Wise for WIndows Installer
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I am trying to decide which installer package to purchase, either InstallShield's Professional-Windows Installer Edition or Wise's Windows Installer 3.0. I'm looking for developers to share their experiences with these products and for any recommendations. Tim Ranker
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I am trying to decide which installer package to purchase, either InstallShield's Professional-Windows Installer Edition or Wise's Windows Installer 3.0. I'm looking for developers to share their experiences with these products and for any recommendations. Tim Ranker
Hmmmm, tough question... I think most of it depends on what user interface you like best. I have only tried Wise in an evaluation-edition, and I think the GUI is kind of "cluttered"... I'm a regular user of Installshield Prof Windows Installer Edition 2.0, and it can pretty much do everything I want it to :) But, the help sucks :( You can download full evaluation-editions of both. Give it a try, and go for the one you like best. Both can do almost everything... - Anders
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I am trying to decide which installer package to purchase, either InstallShield's Professional-Windows Installer Edition or Wise's Windows Installer 3.0. I'm looking for developers to share their experiences with these products and for any recommendations. Tim Ranker
I wont go ranting on about which I prefer again, but I highly recommend ISWI (InstallShield for Windows Installer). I'm using version 1.1, but 1.5 is now available. It is easy to use, and in my opinion more powerful when it comes to writing custom actions. David Wulff dwulff@battleaxe-software.co.uk
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I am trying to decide which installer package to purchase, either InstallShield's Professional-Windows Installer Edition or Wise's Windows Installer 3.0. I'm looking for developers to share their experiences with these products and for any recommendations. Tim Ranker
I would be careful evaluating both products. From my experience with older versions (non-windows installer, that is InstallShield Express and Wise InstallMaster), IS has some localization problems. As I'm living in Germany, I'm using a localized Windows version and on localized Windows versions, path names may be different. A wonderful example (and this is where lots of IS installs fails) is "c:\program files" and "c:\programme" (the latter being the german version). I've seen lots of non-localized installs that chose the first option on a localized windows version. This obviously is a BUG, since there is a well-documented way to determine the name of the 'program files' path. IS developers don't seem to know this. On the other hand, WISE (even the really very old version 5) is abled to determine the correct path. As I already said in the beginning, this is a comparison of old product features; if the same problem still exists when using the windows installer technology, I just don't know. As to localization: I don't care especially for localized applications; I'm well abled to use an english application. But I do care for correct application behaviour; if localized paths are to be used, they shall be used correctly. (another nice one is "c:Documents and Settings" in comparison to "c:Dokumente und Einstellungen" - comes from Windows 2000) Some points I'd be checking : - ability to debug installation scripts - quality (or existence) of manufacturer's support - price tag - availability of updates and evaluation versions - quality of documentation - security aspects (If you want to password-protect your application, how easy is it to circumvent the installer's password check?)
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I would be careful evaluating both products. From my experience with older versions (non-windows installer, that is InstallShield Express and Wise InstallMaster), IS has some localization problems. As I'm living in Germany, I'm using a localized Windows version and on localized Windows versions, path names may be different. A wonderful example (and this is where lots of IS installs fails) is "c:\program files" and "c:\programme" (the latter being the german version). I've seen lots of non-localized installs that chose the first option on a localized windows version. This obviously is a BUG, since there is a well-documented way to determine the name of the 'program files' path. IS developers don't seem to know this. On the other hand, WISE (even the really very old version 5) is abled to determine the correct path. As I already said in the beginning, this is a comparison of old product features; if the same problem still exists when using the windows installer technology, I just don't know. As to localization: I don't care especially for localized applications; I'm well abled to use an english application. But I do care for correct application behaviour; if localized paths are to be used, they shall be used correctly. (another nice one is "c:Documents and Settings" in comparison to "c:Dokumente und Einstellungen" - comes from Windows 2000) Some points I'd be checking : - ability to debug installation scripts - quality (or existence) of manufacturer's support - price tag - availability of updates and evaluation versions - quality of documentation - security aspects (If you want to password-protect your application, how easy is it to circumvent the installer's password check?)
Well, since the first InstallShield product I have used (The one that came with Delphi 2, in 1995) it has been able to install to the right places. I mean, I live in Denmark, and the "Program Files" dir is called "Programmer" in Danish. But, if the guys that make a setup is hardcoding "program files" it won't work, but if you uses InstallShield's Path Variables ([INSTALLDIR]) it installs to the right place! - Anders
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I wont go ranting on about which I prefer again, but I highly recommend ISWI (InstallShield for Windows Installer). I'm using version 1.1, but 1.5 is now available. It is easy to use, and in my opinion more powerful when it comes to writing custom actions. David Wulff dwulff@battleaxe-software.co.uk
They released ISWI 2.0 a couple of months ago ;P - Anders