Why is the Installer is My Least Favorite Piece of the Microsoft Platform.
I worked on a project where we were contractually restricted to Microsoft products after years of using Java and Open Source tools. Microsoft tooling is kind of interesting because you get a integrated environment where the MS teams have taken on the burden of implementation. It's not a confused jungle of choices where some big pieces integration are left to you. The MS world moves at a pace driven by Microsoft itself, often faster than JCP driven Java. OSS and Java either barely move or go really fast but in a whole bunch of different directions all at once. Which is pretty, is much a matter of personal taste. Microsoft and its tooling is installed and managed through GUI installers that bind the installed software/tool to the target machine. Its not like a directory is created and some stuff is registered. Files are copied different places and system libraries can be updated or overwritten. This installer and its implications has turned out ...