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Software installers are extremely valuable to the software industry, as the first impression users receive when dealing with new software is its installation process.
Two major technologies are used for software packaging: The first is the traditional EXE and the second is Microsoft’s MSI.
Both technologies are marketed side by side, as each one has its distinctive advantages and disadvantages. One of the industry’s main challenges is to manage and combine the two technologies into one product.
- EXE - The traditional EXE is perfect for consumer applications that are distributed online or on CDs, as well as for internal company packages.
Most of the popular applications that can be downloaded from the net are EXE based. EXE provides enormous flexibility and a fully customized installation platform for popular applications such as Google, Skype and others.
There are many companies that provide EXE installers, such as “InstallShield”, “Wise” and “Pantaray Research”, while many other companies choose to develop their own internal installers.
The main drawback of the EXE installers is that if they are not developed professionally, the installation might cause conflicts in the Windows Operation System.
MSI – This platform is more applicable to IT Managers in enterprises, who wish to control the software installations throughout the entire organization. The MSI provides software packaging, patch testing, license management etc., enabling IT Teams to increase application reliability, improve productivity and reduce licensing costs.
The Windows Installer (MSI) is an engine used for installation, maintenance and removal of software on newly Microsoft Windows Systems. The installation’s information, and often the files themselves, are packed in installation packages, commonly known as “MSI Files”.
Microsoft encourages third parties to use Windows Installer as their basis for installation processes, thus ensuring correct synchronization with other installers and keeping a consistent internal database for installed products. The reliable operation of important features such as “rollback” and “versioning” (which prevents “DLL Hell”…) depends on a consistent internal database.
The MSI, which is supplied by companies such as “InstallShield”, “Wise”, and “Pantaray Research”, provides more protection from unauthorized actions and from conflicts in the Operating System, but at the same time considerably reduces the flexibility and richness of the installation. MSI installation files also tend to be larger in size than equivalent .zip or .rar files (or self-extracting .exe), due to the fact that the file’s internal database is not compressed.
As each technology carries its distinct values in different areas of software installation, one of the industry’s main challenges is to develop one overall tool that may provide the “best of both worlds”, for enterprise and consumer applications.
Although the installation processes of each technology are different and cannot be unified, the user interfaces for installations can be united, thus making life much simpler for the developer, who can perform all the needed actions and directions of the packaging process, and then choose whether to compile in MSI or in EXE. All the directions regarding the files and their destinations will be shared in the same GUI.
Pantaray Research took upon itself the challenge of providing the same installation sequence for both technologies, and succeeded to develop the perfect GUI enabling either EXE or MSI. All the programmer needs to do is to follow all the necessary installation instructions and then to decide whether to compile the setup in EXE or MSI.
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