5 replies to this topic

[Stefan Krueger]

Macrovision Corporation today announced that it has acquired privately-held Zero G Software, Inc. Zero G is a leading provider of software deployment and delivery solutions for multi-platform operating system environments (product InstallAnywhere) and also entered the Windows Installer market last year (product InstallAnywhere .NET).
Almost exactly one year ago Macrovision had acquired InstallShield Software Corp., market leader in software installation solutions. The acquisition thus brings together the former competitors InstallShield and Zero G.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Press release

[sithlord]

I wonder what will happen to ZeroG. The bitter fight between InstallShield and InstallAnywhere appears to have ended in a twisted way. At first I thought Macrovision was in the market for a deployment solution for their DRM software. However, this acquisition sheds some new light on what they're after. Macrovision wants to become the leader in enterprise deployment solutions because they know this is a largely untapped market, which may, in the long run, bring a lot of money.
One question remains though. What will Macrovision do with InstallAnywhere?
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[Stefan Krueger]

Additional information has been posted at http://www.zerog.com...zero-g-faq.html. Basically they say that SolutionArchitect will stay as a product with "high growth potential". InstallAnywhere (the multi-platform intallation product) will be integrated in InstallShield Professional/Premier, especially to improve support for the Mac platform. InstallAnywhere.NET (the MSI installation product that Zero G acquired from ActiveInstall 18 months ago) will be phased out, customers should upgrade to InstallShield Professional. PowerUpdate will also be phased out, customers should upgrade to Macrovision's InstallShield Update Service. The Zero G company name will disappear.

[bobcorrigan]

Stefan is right on target.

I'm very interested in what InstallSite readers think are the most compelling features of the ZeroG product portfolio.

Thanks,

bob corrigan
installshield pm

[singletd]

A sad day I think, competition is always a good thing????

Personally I thought the Zerog GUIs were and are more user friendly than InstallShields though perhaps not quite as feature rich.

Where do I go now for a reliable alternative is my biggest concern now?

[luke_s]

Even though i never used install shield multiplatform or install anywhere for release purposes, i didnt download and evalutate them and i agree that the install anywhere gui's were much more user friendly than the install shield multiplatform ones.