Windows installation -- How to build utility?
Wade P Evans
they want an install program. They have approached me to write it, as they
do not wish to use someone else's installation package.
Where should I look for documentation on how installation is performed?
I do not have access to the MSDN CD's, as I have not yet joined.
-w
Eric Bohlman
: My company will soon be releaseing its first program under MS-Windows, and
*Windows 3.1: A Developer's Guide* by Jeffrey Richter (M&T, 1992)
discusses writing installation programs, and includes a sample one.
#define non_technical_commentary
This sounds like a classic case of NIH (Not Invented Here) syndrome.
Your company is being penny-wise and pound-foolish. It's going to cost
them a lot more to have you design and maintain an installation program
than it would cost them to buy a good one. A company that devotes itself
to developing installation programs is going to do a better job of
writing them than one that's trying to spread its resources thin, and it
will be able to spread its development costs out over a large customer base.
A company that tries to write install programs in-house (unless there's
something *very* unusual about the installation process) is going to have
only a few products to spread its costs over, is going to put a lot of
time and money into re-inventing the wheel, and is going to wind up with
an inferior install program because it doesn't have the knowledge base
posessed by a company that does install programs for a living.
Furthermore, the first thing a customer sees in your product is its
advertising. The second thing they see is the physical packaging.
What's A) the third thing they see and B) the *first* thing they see when
they're actually at the computer? You guessed it, it's the install
program! The point where a customer runs your installation program is a
classic "moment of truth"; it can make or break the customer's
impression, not only of your product, but of your company as a whole.
Trying to cut corners on an installation program is as wrong-headed as
trying to cut corners on advertising or packaging.
Furthermore, it's unlikely that in *any* company the software development
staff is going to have lots of free time on their hands. This means that
effort put into doing things like install programs, which have already
been done cheaper and better by someone else, is going to detract from
effort put into the company's own products. If you're going to be
successful in the marketplace, you've got to devote your resources to
doing the things that you can do better than your competitors (your "core
competencies") rather than things that a company that's *not* one of your
competitors (such as a developer of install programs) can do better than
you. To put it into managementese, there's no leverage in doing the latter.
The problem, of course, is that the cost of buying an install program
shows up as an easily identifiable line item, whereas the larger costs of
re-inventing the wheel, foregoing time that could be spend on improving
the product, etc. are all scattered throughout your "overhead." Out of
sight may be out of mind, but it's still out of money!
Dan Amberman
>From: the...@netcom.com (Wade P Evans)
>Subject: Windows installation -- How to build utility?
>Date: Tue, 1 Nov 1994 20:47:19 GMT
This has been a popular subject in here lately... A lot of people use
Microsoft's setup utilitiy, including a lot of commercial vendors. You can
fully customize it through the use of C and VB scripts.
You can get the whole package including documentation from:
ftp.microsoft.com /developr/win_dk/sdk-unsup-ed
in the only file there, toolkit.zip.
Have fun..
Dan Amberman | Media Alley, Inc.
d...@fox.nstn.ca | Your Computer & Communications Department
Phone: (902) 462-0005 | Dartmouth, NS, Canada
>> Ask me about becoming an information provider on the World Wide Web <<
Christian Barmala
I guess, you can use it not only for the installation of
VB Programs, but you should be able to easyly modify it
for other programs.
Christian Barmala
Peter Gutmann
Be warned, though, that the thing is horribly buggy and you may need to do
all sorts of nasty poking around to get it to work properly. When it works
it's quite nice though.
Peter.
Roberto Soldi
on the file osetup15.zip on server.netcom.com in the pub/oseano directory.
Roberto Soldi