About me... the long version
Let me introduce myself. I'm Susan Gorman. I'm a professional install developer. I've been a full-time install developer for about 10 years now. It all started innocently enough...
Back in 1990 I lived in Kirkland, Washington about a stone's throw from this little startup company called Microsoft. I caught the fever and decided to buy my first computer, from Cosco, no less. It came with this cool little book called "MS-DOS" and Windows 3.1 (if I recall correctly). I'm one of those weird people who actually *reads* the documentation -- so... I started reading the DOS manual. When I finished (and yes, I did read it cover to cover!), I was all set to use basic DOS commands. Whee!!!
Fast forward a couple years. I'd been working in the mortgage and banking industry for a bit and I heard about a company that was developing software that would automatically fill out all those long and tedious mortgage application and processing forms for you. No more typewriters? No more carbonized forms? This I had to see! Other than using my own personal computer at home I had no formal computer-related education, but I was detail-oriented, well-spoken, literate, and a logical thinker. They thought I'd make a great support desk person. And off I went into the world of software development! I slid happily from support desk to trainer to documentation writer.
In 1993, I moved to Tallahassee, Florida and landed a job in QA. I didn't know anything about SQL or networks or even testing, per se, so the job interview wasn't looking too good, until I discovered that my prospective manager and I both loved The Princess Bride and Monty Python. I think it was "Ah, but I know something you don't know! I'm not left-handed!" that got me the job. I continued gaining on-the-job experience in QA. Touched a bit on Unix systems and some SQL. Even a little automated testing scripts. Then somebody got the bright idea of having me test the translated versions of the product. It's amazing how easily you can actually work on German, French or Italian Windows even when you don't speak the language.
At one point, I became the defacto Configuration Management department (after I looked up what Configuration Management was) and started managing the production of builds and master media. Then somebody tasked me with the the job of creating a kit from which third-party vendors could localize and translate our product. I got it all put together except for one last bit -- the install program. No one knew how to localize or translate it. The one developer who had *reluctantly* written the install program using InstallShield 2 or 3? refused to even touch the thing again. So.. I dove in. I figured it out. I became the new "install developer" because no else was willing to touch the thing.
After a year or so I finally convinced management that I ought to get some formal training on this InstallShield thing. I attended IS 5 basic and advanced training sessions. That helped a lot. I discovered the InstallSite web site and learned that I wasn't alone! Other people were slogging along writing installers on limited resources. Over time I gained experience and 'leveled-up' through InstallShield 3, 5, 5.5, 7, 8. The installation department at my company grew over 10 years to a staff of 5 full-time install developers. We were legion! And then came the revolution - Windows Installer. Egad! We had no idea what this thing was. We delayed switching from InstallScript to Windows Installer as long as possible. But finally I had no choice.
In 2005 I finally left the company I'd been at for 12 years and took on the challenge of being the sole Install Developer and Configuration Manager at a way-cool company working in the anti-malware industry, Sunbelt Software. I now had to figure out what MSI was and what to do with it. Believe it or not, there are very few books that actually focus on Windows Installer itself. Thank you, Bob Baker.
So now I've had a few years of MSI development under my belt. With the advent of Vista, it's become apparent that "this ain't your daddy's deployment process" anymore. The little tricks and comfortable techniques that I'd developed over the years that worked, but weren't really 'best practice' -- they won't fly anymore. I'm not a C++ developer (or any kind of Visual Studio developer). SO when I need custom action functionality, it's always been VBScript for me, baby. And the vast majority of the time, it works. It seems, however, that the time has come for me to make the leap. It's time to to take my install development work to the next level, to learn to write custom actions in native code (C++), to truly rise up and become one of the "MSIdle".
As I make this journey, I'll document my struggles, findings, a-ha's!, and other whatnots. I hope this blog becomes a source of information and community for us.
Welcome, and thanks for joining me!