when setup isn't just xcopy
Rob Mensching on Software Installation and Open Source at Microsoft.
Goodbye, MSDN. I'm moving to http://RobMensching.com/blog.
I started blogging three years ago when the MSDN blog site was still hosted on gotdotnet. Back then...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 12/05/2006
Orca is to hex editor as WiX is to ...?
Jonathan Perret made the following interesting comment on a previous blog entry: ...I find it...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 10/23/2006
WiX v3 syntax for detecting the CLR.
Duane Johnson asked how to use WiX v3 to detect the CLR. Extensions in WiX v3 are far more powerful...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 10/17/2006
Deciphering the MSI Directory table, part 7 (directories are properties)
In my last blog entry, I wrapped up saying that we'd talk about how to make your install directory...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 10/17/2006
Deciphering the MSI Directory table, part 6 (standard directories)
Before picking up this series of blog entries on the Directory table again, I went back and re-read...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 10/12/2006
Conflicts of Interest?
Nicholas Carr has a great blog entry about conflicts of interest in blogging. It got me thinking...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 10/10/2006
Nothing.
Thus far, today I have done absolutely nothing. Sure, I cleaned off the kitchen table, put away some...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 10/08/2006
Thursday Night "Deployment Dinner Discussion" with Charlie Poole.
Tonight I traveled to Anthony's Beach Cafe in Edmonds, WA to have dinner with Charlie Poole. Charlie...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 10/06/2006
The Windows Live Writer team rocks.
I installed Windows Live Writer 1.0 Beta a while ago to test a project I was working on. I didn't...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 10/05/2006
SharpDevelop 2.1 - the latest WiX UI Editor
I was cleaning out some old mail messages and came across this tidbit of information that several...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 10/03/2006
It isn't whether you win or lose, as long as you're growing.
Robert sent me a couple quotes from Ichiro in this morning’s Seattle Times. I thought they were...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 09/30/2006
Thursday Night "Deployment Dinner Discussions" with Carolyn Napier.
Tonight Jenny and I hosted our second Thursday Night "Deployment Dinner Discussion". Our...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 09/21/2006
WiX in Visual Studio
In my previous blog entry, I mentioned that Visual Studio was adopting the WiX toolset. Despite the...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 09/18/2006
Bittersweet change, Derek Cicerone leaves WiX.
As I noted in my previous blog entry, there is a lot of change in my life right now. Today Derek...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 09/16/2006
When it changes it pours.
The weather is starting to turn here in Redmond. Fall is right around the corner. With the change in...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 09/13/2006
Thursday Night "Deployment Dinner Discussions" with Rob Mensching.
Over the last couple months, I have been trying to come up with new ways to connect with the...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 08/25/2006
Creative Commons Add-in's Office XP PIA - Conditioning the Office XP PIAs - Part 1
Previously I described how the Office XP PIA install detected what parts of Office XP were...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 08/22/2006
This then this then this. What am I still doing here?
First, I see this. Then I'm skimming my RSS backlog and see this that points at this. This isn't the...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 08/09/2006
Blogging from the outside.
Jenny talked me into going shopping for patio furniture today. I was skeptical. There isn't a lot of...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 08/06/2006
Creative Commons Add-in's Office XP PIA - Detecting Office XP Parts
There was a lot more interest in the Office XP PIA install that Bob created than I expected. I'm...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 07/28/2006
Wow, Microsoft Acquires Wininternals.
PressPass just released the news that Microsoft has acquired Winternals. This is amazing. I've seen...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 07/18/2006
Creative Commons Add-in for Microsoft Office: Behind the Office PIAs.
Tonight, we'll continue with the story of the development of the Creative Commons Add-in for...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 07/12/2006
7 lbs. of M&Ms means only one thing.
If you follow Microsoft culture then you've undoubtedly heard about the distribution of M&Ms on...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 06/28/2006
Creative Commons Add-in for Microsoft Office v1.0.1 released.
As promised, the first two issues reported with the Creative Commons Add-in for Microsoft Office...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 06/27/2006
Supporting the unsupported Creative Commons Add-in for Microsoft Office.
Tonight I had hoped to be continuing the story about the creation of the Creative Commons Add-in for...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 06/23/2006
The WiX toolset presents the Creative Commons Add-in for Microsoft Office.
I have been working on a few unrelated side-projects over the last several months. These are...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 06/21/2006
ScrollableText Control in MSI
A few questions about the ScrollableText Control in MSI come up every once in a while, so I thought...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 05/30/2006
WiX v2 Manual Online
Just a short post here to point out some of Fredrik Grohn's latest handiwork. If you look on the...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 05/18/2006
Thoughts about the CodePlex Beta
I am back from a lovely long weekend with Jenny in Vancouver. It was great to get away from the day...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 05/16/2006
Source code is an inanimate object.
Via Miguel de Icaza, I came across this summary of Google's Summer of Code Mozilla projects. Miguel...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 04/21/2006
Biking here to there.
It's that time of year again. The sun shines out at least as much as the rain comes down. The roads...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 04/16/2006
Windows Installer XML Toolset is 2 years old.
Today is the second anniversary of the Windows Installer XML Toolset's release to SourceForge....
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 04/05/2006
I Roll Twenties... Until I Die.
To the left, is the shirt I wore to work last Monday. My brother gave it to me for Christmas. Most...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 04/02/2006
Rob Mensching on Microsoft TechNet Radio
About a month ago, I wandered over to MS Studios to have a chat with Mike Ward who hosts Microsoft...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 03/01/2006
Is your MSI Package ready for Vista?
Here's a quick tip I've been meaning to post for a while. By now you all know that Windows Vista is...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 02/22/2006
LiftPort's space elevator reaches one mile.
I recently saw this article about the latest achievements of the space elevator by the LiftPort...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 02/17/2006
On the short list of Microsoft Watch's "Microsoft Bloggers".
Speaking of Mary Jo Foley, last week I had a conversation with Dare Obasanjo about RSS Bandit's...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 02/14/2006
SugarCRM uses Ms-CL and the WiX toolset.
A few months ago, Bill Hilf asked if I would attend a meeting to discuss the Windows Installer and...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 02/14/2006
New name for the same thing...
I've changed the name of my blog. I've been thinking about doing this for a while. Tonight I noticed...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 02/08/2006
On the Road to a "Production Quality" Release of the WiX v2 toolset.
If you have been keeping track of the commits to the WiX toolset lately, you'll notice that I have...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 02/08/2006
Google Toolbar Beta for Enterprise a "Trojan horse" MSI package.
Wow, I started this morning off really excited. I saw the announcement that Google has a toolbar for...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 02/01/2006
How small is too small for distributed setup development?
Kurt asked an interesting question on my philosophical musings blog entry: The idea of a distributed...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 02/01/2006
This is exactly where I am at...
I am an individual contributor because I prefer designing and writing code over managing people who...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 02/01/2006
Information overload.
Note: I originally wrote this entry at 6 AM Tuesday morning but Community Server upgrade issues...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 02/01/2006
You should own your personal information.
This is very cool. R0ml just posted a typical storytold blog entry about his new vocation. I say...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 01/17/2006
Restarts Revisited: Windows isn't that different than UNIX
I've been meaning to follow up on my blog entry about the Restart Manager and reboots on the Windows...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 01/17/2006
Questioning the concerns about the state of Open Source tools.
Thomas Tomiczek has a blog entry about a number of Open Source tools. In it he has some complaints...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 01/07/2006
Blogging comments the "Scoble Way".
Usually, when I find comments about the WiX toolset on other people's blogs I would put comments...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 01/07/2006
How the WiX toolset got its name.
This morning someone asked me how the WiX toolset got its name. It isn't a terribly long story so I...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 12/22/2005
In defense of Windows Vista's Restart Manager.
In the last week there were three RSS feeds I follow that mentioned the new Restart Manager service...
Author: Rob Mensching (ex-MSFT) Date: 12/10/2005