Rob Mensching's Blog - page 41

WiX

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 thought I'd write it down quickly.

In the last week there were three RSS feeds I follow that mentioned the new Restart Manager service in Windows Vista.

I have some philosophies about how to build software and setup for software that I've never posted here. So, I thought I'd share those philosophies today.

The Windows Installer Xml (WiX) toolset (pronounced "wicks toolset") appears to have finished propagating around the SourceForge.net CVS servers, so I can finally start writing this blog entry.

I just got back from a successful trip to San Francisco and I'm very glad to be home again. However, I really wish I could attend the Open Source Business Conference 2004 in downtown San Francisco. It'd be really interesting to listen to speakers address the issue I've highlighted from their introduction.

I was hoping to hold out just a bit longer on providing yet another "toolset update" but two different requests for update in my comments prompted me to post a quick note.

On Wednesday night over pizza and code, K mentioned that The Crystal Method had a new album out. At first I didn't believe him. How could I have missed that The Crystal Method had a new album? However, low and behold K was correct. Right on the front page of their website the new album "Legion of Boom" was out and on shelves now!

Setup

Inside the MSI file format, again.

Far and away the most popular blog entry I have written to date is the entry where I discussed some of the inner details of the MSI file format. I find this slightly amusing since there is so little actionable information in that blog entry. I consider the blog entries about Windows Installer Components and the Component Rules far more useful to people working with setup.