Chained, Transactional Software Installers Made Easy with InstallAware 7.
San Francisco, CA, June 8 2008 – InstallAware Software Corporation has shipped a free update for InstallAware 7, adding support for the just-released Windows Installer 4.5. InstallAware is the first installation toolkit at this time to support the final released version of Windows Installer 4.5, ahead of other competitors such as InstallShield. This free update was launched within 48 hours after Microsoft’s own release.
“We have once again demonstrated our commitment to developers by beating all other vendors to providing native Windows Installer 4.5 support,” says Sinan Karaca, Founder of InstallAware Software Corporation. “All our current users may immediately download the free Windows Installer 4.5 update from our website – without having to pay for or wait an extensive amount of time for a vital update like this. For over four years now, InstallAware has been offering the only viable alternative to InstallShield’s line of installation development tools.”
Windows Installer 4.5 introduces major new features for application deployment, such as chaining multiple setup packages together. Multiple chained packages can be installed in a single, atomic transaction that can be rolled back if an error occurs in any one of the chained packages, or the end-user decides to abort the installation. This helps make application installations more robust, especially when applications have dependencies on component and technology frameworks. All .NET applications, for instance, require the installation of the Microsoft .NET Framework; which can now be installed with your applications in a transactional, atomic way.
“Microsoft had selected InstallAware as a launch partner on their first-ever coupled beta program – for the beta 1 milestone of Windows Installer 4.5 in October 2007,” Agustín K-ballo Bergé, Vice President of Research and Development at InstallAware Software Corporation. “We are proud to be working together with Microsoft in delivering our customer base the latest innovations in technology at breakneck speed. It should come as no surprise that we are the first install vendor to support the final released version of MSI 4.5.”
Even without the Windows Installer 4.5 update, developers can already chain multiple setup packages together using InstallAware’s advanced setup bootstrapping capabilities. InstallAware’s bootstrapper captures the native installation progress of each package, dramatically improving the end-user experience. End-users remain in your setup wizards for the entire duration of installation, helping you impress your brand throughout the entire duration of your application’s setup, along with its time consuming pre-requisite components. Nor are end-users confused about apparent lack of setup progress, which is often the case when silently installing third party packages. InstallAware’s bootstrapper can also pre-populate advanced third-party installer options as necessary – instead of requiring end-users to manually populate configuration settings inside separate third party setup windows – eliminating another potential point of failure in your installations, helping reduce your support and maintenance costs.
It is not necessary to overhaul existing InstallAware projects to take advantage of Windows Installer 4.5 features. It literally takes two lines of InstallAware code – one to begin a transaction, and the other to end the ongoing transaction – to create atomic, transactional installation regions directly within existing setup projects. Absolutely no setup re-engineering is required! Coupled with InstallAware’s existing bootstrapping capabilities, this makes InstallAware the tool of choice for building complex, powerful Windows Installer setups that span multiple setup packages.
Of course, if Windows Installer 4.5 is not available on an end-user system, InstallAware installs it automatically; if that is not possible, InstallAware gracefully downgrades chained installation packages to work successfully, even without transaction support.
InstallAware is available in multiple editions with prices starting at US$199. A time limited fully-functional trial download is available at http://www.installaware.com. The Windows Installer 4.5 update is available free of charge, for both trial and licensed users, at http://www.installaware.com/msi45plugin.asp.
About InstallAware Software Corporation
InstallAware Software Corporation, founded in 2003, is a software development company focused solely on state of the art software installation tools which offer the highest compression ratios and bullet-proof installations. The company produces software installation and compression technologies for the Windows Installer (MSI) platform on the Microsoft Windows Operating System. InstallAware is supported by thousands of users worldwide, and is a CodeGear Integrated Partner. For more information, visit http://www.installaware.com.
Candice Jones
InstallAware Software Corporation
Web: www.installaware.com
Email: candicej@installaware.com
Phone: 415 830 4715
InstallShield® is a registered trademarks and/or service mark of Macrovision Corporation and/or Macrovision Europe Ltd. in the United States and/or other countries.