A few weeks ago I wrote a doc called InstallAnywhere (IA) 5 vs InstallShield Multiplatform (ISMP) 4.5. (Sorry cant share that doc, Zero G and Installshield asked to look at it
, but my manager doesnt want me to release it) Here is a brief overview of the differences I found.
I chose IA for the two reasons below:
1) IA can assign rules/conditions at the file level or to console panels, ISMP cant do this. ISMP can assign at the component level which is normally a grouping of files and dirs. You can assign a single file to a component but if you have a lot of them, the file manager UI will be a absolute mess.
2) IA also treats GUI panels and Console panels seperate with ISMP they are the same. This is good and saves time if your panels are identical per UI, but if you have UI specific conditions you want to apply then would be tough to do in ISMP.
Other factors that may sway you towards one over the other:
ISMP has a better API.
IA has a better UI.
ISMP can do media spanning, IA cannot.
IA do file modification time stamping, ISMP cannot.
ISMP can specify file as being text or binary, IA cannot.
IA can update ascii files within a compress file, ISMP cannot.
ISMP has better unix native install registration.
ISMP has slightly better support from my experience.
Suite support (merge modules) and silent installs are pretty much implemented the same.
Hope that helps.
Jack