3 replies to this topic

[reddy611]

Hi All,

Both Wise installation system and Installshield are used to package the applications. but I want to know the main differences between Wise Installation System and Install Shield(Macrovision).
Please what are the advantages of Wise Installation System and what are the Disadvantages of Installshield. At the same way what are the main advantages Install Shield(Macrovision) and disadvantages of Wise Installation System.


Thanks in advance,
Prathap

[Glytzhkof]

Hi, this is a complex question to answer. However, as a general rule Wise is targeted towards people with System Administration type skills, whereas Installshield is more targeted towards people who write code (Developers), at least this used to be the case. With the advent of MSI the products have become more similar, but there are still some important differences.

Without making a stand in favor of either product (I have used both), I would make these general comments:

* Installshield is more extensible, automatable (COM automation) and feature complete if you need advanced deployment features

* Wise is quicker to use, it has an overall feeling of quality and seems much less buggy than Installshield.

* Wise has a "click your install" philosophy, generally making common things simple to do. The collateral to that is that sometimes it is really hard to do hard things with Wise.

* Installshield has generally impressed me more with their documentation and sample material.

* Installshield seems to have a larger user base and certainly more active user base (forums). Not sure if this is because it is used more or simply more buggy :-).

Essentially it is difficult to make a real recommendation without knowing what your requirements are. Much more important than your deployment tool are the issues of :

1: Designing a deployment friendly application (adhere to rules for where to write files of different types such as settings files, binaries and user data).

2: Defining your upgrade and maintenance strategy in MSI terms (what upgrade types to use, frequencies etc...)

[reddy611]

Hi Glytzhkof,

Thanks for your fast reply.

I started working with install shield 6 and now it's 11.5, but in our organization only one project which was started 6 years before, that time they used Wise Installation System. Now even that project they want to convert into the installashield. I just learned Wise Installation System and started working with that. I am not feeling much differences.

If suppose i want to convert the Wise Installation System project to the Installshield, what are the things i should observe first? that's why i asked what are the main diff b/w InstallShiled and Wise installation System?

Advance thanks,

Regards,
Prathap

[Stefan Krueger]