Any update to InstallAware 7R2 to support NET 35 Framework?

[blandry]

We are currently running InstallAware 7 R2 which has support for (and up to?) .NET Framework 2.0.

Now I need to check for and install (if needed) .NET Framework 3.5.

Is there a plugin or update I can run on my version of InstallAware to get this ability?

Thanks!

[MichaelNesmith]

You can always build your own runtime. Other than that, the latest runtimes are available in 9 R2. I don't recall if we published free runtime update packs for 7.x - we often do that though, so might be worth combing the forums. It all depends on whether the .NET 3.5 runtimes were released on or after our v8 version launch.

[blandry]

Thank you Michael.

I think I will have to write my own - I cannot find anything on your site relating to updates or upgrades for Version 7 R2 - and there are no plugins I can find that would support .NET 3.5 which is fairly vital (to us at least) as its the version Visual Studio 2008 lives atop of.

One question (you might not be able to answer) - if we shell out the $$$ for the Version 9 update, are we merely going to be continually finding the product growing old too fast because InstallAware does not do planned or regular updates to support the latest .NET versions (etc.)? (Pardon, but my boss has a real problem with what he calls "buying the same product over and over again...")

So do you folks do regular updates? Or is it kind of, 'as it happens' stuff? If you can answer great - if not, I am sure the boss will be calling some sales guy there.

Thanks for your help - its appreciated!

[MichaelNesmith]

We understand your concern. InstallAware is the ONLY installation vendor that releases FREE runtime updates within 48 hours of Microsoft's release of them - just check our press release section for a historic record of all this. InstallShield has just began catching up with us during the latest release of .NET 4 - however, we are still ahead of them (for example, SQL Server 2008 R2 is still something only we support).

If you have searched around the forums, you will see many free runtime updates, download links, etc. You sure can try these with your version, but if they were released as free updates for say, InstallAware versions 8 or 9, they might be naturally using some new functionality in those versions, and thus may actually fail with your own version, and have to be officially unsupported.

Unlike InstallShield, this is not a customer base milking strategy, but simply an issue of practical convenience. We cannot continue supporting versions of InstallAware that are 3-4 years old when we are releasing updates. We can only target the SHIPPING version.

So, all InstallAware 9 users got a 100% FREE upgrade to InstallAware 9 R2 which contains new .NET 4 logic&runtimes, as well as the opportunity to upgrade their product edition.