Why use InstallShield?

29 August 2008 - 15:37

Why do so many professional software developers use InstallShield to create their application installers? This is not a rhetorical question. I'd really like to know. From my years answering the reader help pages in PC Advisor magazine - and some personal experience of my own - I know that InstallShield installs and uninstalls often go wrong, sometimes causing horrendous problems for the user. Yet I have never come across a single problem with installers created using the free setup builder Inno Setup.

InstallShield costs upwards of $499. Quite a lot upwards, in fact. That price is for the basic Express version. The prices for other versions go well into four figures. Heck, you can buy a development system for that.

Inno Setup is free. Surely developers don't think that just because InstallShield costs a lot, it must be better?

Today I tried to install the trial demo of Easeus Data Recovery Wizard. As soon as I started the installation it failed with Error Code -5004 : 0x8007005. That's really the kind of thing you want your users to see, isn't it?

InstallShield error

After half an hour's Googling, and trying various suggestions including re-registering the Windows Installer, installing the latest Windows Installer, re-setting permissions in the registry, and running Dial-a-fix (which looks like a handy utility, even if it didn't help in this case) the error still persisted, and I gave up. Most potential customers of a software product would have given up long before that, in any case.

My searching brought up literally hundreds of results relating to various errors caused by InstallShield. That's no surprise to me, since it isn't the first time I've experienced them. When PC Advisor included a trial version of Panda AntiVirus on a cover disc a couple of years back, and dozens of readers found that the uninstaller broke leaving them unable to remove the software so that they could install a different anti-virus, it was a major headache.

So I ask the question again. Why do so many professional developers persist in using InstallShield to create their application installers, when there are so many better alternatives, even free ones?

Used tags: error, inno_setup, installer, installshield, setup, software_development

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three comments

I think it is because of the brand name InstallShield has established. I don’t know what they offer in 499 dollars but whatever it may be it is not worth for most of the ISVs.
manoj () (URL) - 30 August 2008 - 07:03

Matter of habit? Really, there are a lot of commercial products with the same (and even better) functionalities, low prices, approx. $100. And a lot of FREE installer including Inno Setup, Excelsior Installer (http://installer.excelsior-usa.com/), NSIS (http://nsis.sourceforge.net) and more! The EI is very easy to use, but NSIS very powerful installer. Recommended!
Alex () - 1 September 2008 - 11:15

Sadly most `professional softwar devlelopers’ who get assigned setup duty don’t have the first clue on what makes a good setup and they could care less. That said, InstallShield actually is a very good tool, if you take the time to learn how to use it correctly. I’ve been using various versions ( and other products ) for 12 years and I like it a lot.

As an aside, the dialog you show tells me this install was written in InstallShield ‘X’ (10.0) which was released I think in 2004/2005. Versions prior to 12.0 had a very ugly InstallScript engine that had many issues. The vendor that shipped that install should be shot for still using that version.
Christopher Painter (URL) - 5 September 2008 - 04:53

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