which type of installer?

[joe bellavance]

Hi, everyone. I've got a beginner question for you.

I'm wondering about the costs and benefits of performing
an MSI installation (in conjunction with the Windows
Installer Service) vs. a traditional, script-based
installation.

The package I need to install (and I have no experience
with installers) is, I believe, pretty simple. So far, it
consists of a VB program, a DLL, and some small files.
The only catch is that a hardware driver must be installed
as the first part of the installation package. The
program is for single users only; no networking (server
side) is involved. Chances are good that it will be
installed on everything from Win95 up to WinXP
Professional.

I know that Microsoft mandates an MSI installation as part
of the Win2000 and WinXP logo requirements, but that's not
a big deal to the developer of this software. MSI's
rollback, reference counting, self-repair, etc. sound
great, but I think he's more concerned with the prospect
of installing the Windows Installer Service onto legacy
(ie, Win9x, WinNT, and WinME) machines without the user
knowing about it or having any choice. And scripting
sounds like it might be simpler and faster, but I worry
about running afoul of Win2000 and WinXP and all the other
apps that DO use MSI.

So given these conditions, would we be better off with an
installation package that performs MSI installations (eg,
Wise for Windows, InstallShield), or would be better off
doing it the old-fashioned way (eg, Wise Installation
System, Setup Factory)? Has anyone had any luck or horror
shows installing the Windows Installer Service and MSI
packages on Win9x, WinNT, and WinME machines? Has anyone
had any luck or horror shows installing a script-based
package on Win2000 or Win XP?

Or should I just KISS and go with the future of installing
(MSI and Windows Installer Service)?

I'm not looking for a vendor recommendation so much as I'm
looking for a "direction" recommendation.

Thanks for your time, and thanks in advance for any advice.

Joe

[Torgeir Bakken]

joe bellavance wrote:

> Has anyone had any luck or horror
> shows installing the Windows Installer Service and MSI
> packages on Win9x, WinNT, and WinME machines?

We have installed MSI on thousands of Win9x and WinNT computers, no problems.
Almost all major newer SW packages uses MSI today, so it is difficult to avoid
getting it installed (e.g MS Office 2000, Norton Anti Virus 7.x Corporate
Edition)

> Has anyone
> had any luck or horror shows installing a script-based
> package on Win2000 or Win XP?

Works good, same as Win9x/WinNT really. An example here is the Acrobat Reader
installation.

--
torgeir

[alan sinclair]

unless your package really is very simple, there's quite a lot
of learning rqd to use Windows Installer, even if you use
Wise (do) or InstallShield (don't, imho).

that said, why not bite the bullet and go with the future
technology instead of old tech ...

you may have to write an app to install the hardware driver,
which will be called by Windows Installer

"joe bellavance" <joebel...@home.com> wrote in message
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