Software Deployment

Elements by far :)

I'm not geting upset now....I promise :)

Oh Blackberry rates a mention as well. The only other one that is so silly that you will all laugh at is called Filenet.

The Filenet Manager which is the CORE of the app refuses to start up unless it has FULL CONTROL of........wait for it.

HKCR!!!!!!!!!!!!! The whole key.

I swear to god :)

Nice poll cdupuis :)

HKCU has been in my nightmares now for over 2 months. Maybe I should consider another line of work...

What about HKCU is troubling you?

Roxio Easy CD 5 and 6 both get my vote. Even if you manage to find a way to pass the license keys to the msi for an unattended install, you'll still be lucky to get the program to register properly. Oh, and you'll need to make sure you log on as an administrator the first time you launch it or else it wont work at all!

Other contenders - any of the ArcGIS suite, which insist on updating your vb before installing and also insist on rebooting after installing or uninstalling (even a REBOOT=R doesn't work!).
Visio also gets half a vote just because it comes with about 50 odd individual msi files.
Thankfully (it would seem) i've never had the 'pleasure' of packaging the adobe 6 range.

Although there may be other apps out there that are worse and technically more maddening (like, perhaps, MSImakers's run in with Adobe Elements), my vote goes to Acrobat.

Here is my reasoning:

Adobe touts its Acrobat "portable" document format and products on its website as follows:

"Whether you need to share files across the office or around the world, the Adobe® Acrobat® product family enables businesses to simplify document processes using Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). A standard adopted by governments and enterprises worldwide, Adobe PDF is a reliable format for electronic document exchange that preserves document integrity so files can be viewed and printed on a variety of platforms."

You would think with Acrobat's success and the omnipresence of .pdf documents, and the fact that computer's are on nearly every worker's desk now, Adobe would make it truly "enterprise deployment friendly".

It's tough, but I am fa.. fa.. fa.. f o r c i n g myself not to go on a rrrrrr... rrrrr... r a n t.


Craig --<>.

Well the truth of the matter is that Adobe does offer another product called Adobe Acrobat Server, that is the true enterprise solution, but is usually unaffordable.

cdupuis,

True about the Acrobat Server product. And let's compare Acrobat to another nearly defacto software: WinZip. It may not be provided in .msi format yet, but at least it can be handled without grief and additional expense.


Craig --<>.

As a matter of fact, Winzip does cause grief due to it being required to register (with serial # and all) for each user, what a damn pain. BTW, thanks for the congrats on my new position with the Adobe marketing team...:)

cdupuis,

:-) I took that joke about the Adobe marketing team out - sometimes the things that seem funny in our own heads lose humor across the wire. I hope no offense was taken on your part.

Would you not agree, though, that it is easier to get around the HKCU & registration stuff with WinZip than deal with a poorly formed Adobe provided .msi?

Craig --<>.

I have a great sense of humor, so no offence taken at all. In regards to adobe msi packages...well, I have had no problems and as of yet, maybe it is good that I do not use the products (except Adobe reader which was easy since adobe themsleves provided a robust solution and even OEM version of Installshield tuner).

I have not had any major problems with them yet, either, but not because they are well-formed. The only reason I have been able to deal with them effectively is - no brown-nosing intended - because of the documentation here at our beloved AppDeploy.com.

Craig --<>.

I would have said, because I am a bonafied genius. But yes, appdeploy is the best site on the face of the earth and i bow down to you, Bob kelly, and Jim Baker.

Hey, this is nothing. After informing a vendor that we prefer .MSI installs, I actually had a vendor create a single file .exe install and RENAME to an .MSI extension for us. Gee, thanks.

It's a shame that I am forced to work with these people.

You have to love being surrounded by idiots.

I have no love for Adobe, but at least they've finally decided to notice that Windows Installer exists! And once you unbury the MSI for Reader 6, it's usable -- not encrusted with proprietary InstallShield stuff.

But my vote here goes to Palm Desktop. If these people have pretensions to be an enterprise solution, they need to make their tools enterprise-deployable. Per user? Puleez, it's not 1996 any more.

Fun forum. Thanks!

Hey, this is nothing. After informing a vendor that we prefer .MSI installs, I actually had a vendor create a single file .exe install and RENAME to an .MSI extension for us. Gee, thanks.

It's a shame that I am forced to work with these people.

VikingLoki,

Actually, this works provided that you sprinkle pixie dust on your monitor, tap your keyboard with your magic wand, and say "abra-ca-dabra, ala-kazam".

[:D]

Craig --<>.

Not true, I tried that...wait a second, did you say abra? Damn, I was using the generic multiple choice response algorithym of abacadaba. I will try the abra-cadabra this time and report back.

Yes - please check your context before you report that it doesn't work [;)]

I unfortunately have had the pleasure of packaging each of these apps. The most recent app has been Microsoft Visual Studio.NET 2003 which without the help from appdeploy would have been an absolute nightmare

I am just about to venture on this adventure. Can you kindly share the info. Thanks