Book Reviews
In-Depth Installer
The Administrator’s Introduction to Application Repackaging and Software Deployment using Windows Installer provides a solid
reference.
As a developer, I’ve been writing and distributing applications
for many years. I first started out distributing DOS-based applications,
a fairly simple task. All I had to do was copy my files to a directory
on the hard drive, and people could use my application.
When Windows came out, things became a bit more complex, as we had to
deal with .ini files and had to start working with something called a
“registry.” At that point, we began writing more complex setup
programs to make sure all files were copied to the right place and everything
registered correctly. In fact, writing a setup procedure became like writing
a separate program just to deploy your own application.
Originally, the installation setup was accomplished by writing scripts
to copy files, but this was cumbersome; when an installation failed, recovery
was difficult. In fact, this became such a burden to the tech support
folks at Microsoft that they developed a new way to install applications:
Windows Installer. This new technology comes with Windows 2000 and is
available for Windows 9x and newer. It’s a better technology than
the old scripting method because it’s database-driven, which makes
it easier to track everything that’s installed, as well as roll
back from a failed installation or uninstall the application completely.
The Administrator’s Introduction to Application Repackaging
and Software Deployment using Windows Installer is designed to help
you understand this new technology and how to migrate older, scripted
applications to the new technology using InstallShield’s AdminStudio.
The best thing about this book is that the authors go into a great technical
depth, yet still make it easy to understand. You can certainly tell that
they make their living by training others, as it shows through in everything
they write. The book is well-organized and easy to follow, making it simple
to understand what the authors are saying.
Sometimes, though, there’s too much information, which distracts
the reader from the main topic. For example, the book addresses how Windows
Installer gives administrators the ability to install applications on
user’s machines even if they don’t have administrative privileges.
That’s great fodder, but the authors take this security theme too
far by writing an in-depth chapter on how Windows security works, going
so far as to explain all the different components that comprise Security
Identifiers (SIDs) and how they’re assigned. While that’s
good information for a security book, it’s simply too much for this
tome.
Overall, though, this is an excellent book and a fine reference for
people who need to repackage legacy applications to use the Windows Installer
technology — whether or not they’re using InstallShield’s
AdminStudio to do so.
About the Author
Joseph L. Jorden, MCSE, MCT, CCNA, CCDA is Chief Technical Officer for Dugger & Associates (www.Dugger-IT.com). He was one of the first 100
people to achieve the MCSE+I and one of the first 2,000 to become an MCSE under Windows 2000. Joseph frequently contributes to books from Sybex and various periodicals.