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I am the install guy and I really like InstallShield.
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Wrong --- my last development position was managing the installation for a cross-platform JAVA/GUI App. 'Cause I did it so well (after developing it, I integrated the whole package generation into the regular daily build), they figured they didn't need my services anymore. I was the first lay-off....
My advice for installation developers: don't quit your day job 
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That said, I do not understand why people do not apply more effort to the task of building the distribution units. It is the customer’s first experience with a product. If the installation facility falls to its knees, what is the perception of the rest of the product?
Michael Dunn wrote:
Install is the worst and least-rewarding type of dev work. It's no fun, ...
I can see what you mean. Consider that the installation developer has the opportunity to see which “macro” strategies really do make the product easy to maintain, support, and deploy.
Michael Dunn wrote:
... blow up in spectacular fashion, possibly taking out some system files ...
Take a look at Windows File Protection and the Windows Installer Service. These two facilities on modern Windows systems have made resource contention a thing of the past. Windows File Protection covers the most common case where this can occur. Further, you might be impressed with the transacted state and file versioning rules of Windows Installer to cover the other side of the coin.
Michael Dunn wrote:
using the nastyness that is InstallShield
I feel the same way sometimes. Then again, I feel the same way about my compiler now and again. It always seems to comes back to the usage of the tool.
I like the adage "Use the tool, don't trust the tool." Meaning, know what your tool does and how it does it, before you use it. Trust me; if you had to do it everyday, you would want InstallShield. 
"A good plan is short on vision and long on detail." - Lou Gerstner
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Ed Preston wrote:
That said, I do not understand why people do not apply more effort to the task of building the distribution units. It is the customer’s first experience with a product. If the installation facility falls to its knees, what is the perception of the rest of the product?
I couldn't agree more. I'll go one further and say that the old model of having a "Installer Developer" (that poor sap that has to deal with all of the dependencies at the last minute) is obsolete.
On the project I'm working on, we've architected things such that each "logical package" has a VS.NET solution with all of the assembly projects as well as a merge module project. The enigneer(s) responsible for developing a package are also responsible for managing its deployment.
Creating the installer is just a little bit of GUI sugar on top of a collection of merge modules. Breaking the installer now has the same conotation as breaking the build: the engineer who did it is responsible for fixing it.
This has worked really well for us (Plus since I've often been the poor sap who develops the installer, makes me a much happier camper).
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Here is a link with more details on Windows File Protection.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techenthusiast/features/wfp.asp
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Continuing with the "need multiple choice" theme...
Our primary installers are InstallShield-based. Somewhat old, somewhat creaky scripted ones. I don't write these.
I did, however, just finish an update installer using NSIS. It is a joy to work with, i must say. Like PHP, but for installers. 
---
the work, which will become a new genre unto itself, will be called...
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Shog9 wrote:
It is a joy to work with, i must say. Like PHP, but for installers.
Thank god there is stuff like PHP around
MSI   and NSIS for me.
Clean Programming Under Difficult Circumstances
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I use installshield with a combo of scripts and MSI.
Scripts for those things that I must control on my own.
MSI to install those packages like MSDE 2000.
If I could live w/o MSI, I would.
To me, MSI sounds like a perfect example of how Microsoft
jumping into the arena and providing yet another extra
complication in my life.
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This poll should really have been multiple selection. We have used/still use at least 3 on the list and have written our own installer in the past - for W3.1
Currently using InstallShield, its giving us a real headache with some components.
Doesn't install fonts correctly  , fails to register some services, cannot script the repair option  etc. Doesn't report problems when they occur.
So we aim to build all this into our own software in future. So we will eventaully use none...
Roger Allen - Sonork 100.10016
Roger Wright: Remember to buckle up, please, and encourage your friends to do the same. It's not just about saving your life, but saving the quality of life for those you may leave behind...
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Try to use NSIS. You will not regret it.
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Suggestion and first vote! I can die happy now.
Thanks Chris.
Gavin Greig
"Haw, you're no deid," girned Charon. "Get aff ma boat or ah'll report ye."
Matthew Fitt - The Hoose O Haivers: The Twelve Trauchles O Heracles.
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Incoming missle on target with attached 
Roger Allen - Sonork 100.10016
Roger Wright: Remember to buckle up, please, and encourage your friends to do the same. It's not just about saving your life, but saving the quality of life for those you may leave behind...
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