Unattended (unattended.sf.net) is a great tool for such things, but more geared towards initial setup. I used it for software deployment at a company with ~150 employees, admitably not a lot, but enough to save me a few moments everyday.
Take a look at the CVS repository for their install scripts. They use perl, but if you're comfortable with it Windows Scripting Host (*gasp* I suggested using VB scripts) makes it immediately accessible for people who may not, can not (some policy), or do not want to install something outside of what is required on their harddrive.
Personally I think replication of the repository would be nice. If you structure it nicely you won't have to replicate parts you never use, such as "games".
Nathan
Hmmm lets see everyone bitches on and on about how M$ tries to pull every dirty scam in the book. Its about the same as someone claiming that all Americans are idiots just because of their political leaders. I hear constant complaints about programmer jobs drying up or going to India. Microsoft is a big employer, believe it or not there is actually people in the company who spend more time developing, doing research, etc then being the company bulldog. And maybe, just maybe they out weigh the company bulldogs in head count. So if M$ becomes the underdog do you think those developer jobs will really get shifted elsewhere in the industry? If they do it will be to places like India and Russia, however many of them will simply disappear. An OS project can have numerous people on a project and very few of them get paid to be there. So if you have a project that was previously done in a company where all employee's were paid and it gets superceded by a *possibly* inferior or incomplete OS product what are the consequences? JOB LOSS!!!!!
Microsoft can't compete with free, but at what expense does free come. In this case it WILL be in jobs, no if's, and's or but's about it. Everyone's so obsessed about the idea of free that they've forgotten the true underlying costs. Sure you *maybe* able to start up a services company to provide linux support, but guess what the average Mom & Pop shop won't pay for your services because they can't afford it or they have a son/daughter/etc who will do most of it inadequately for free. Are you going to offer a <$500 service for potentially weeks of work? Large companies can afford to do it because of financial distribution and well designed frameworks, can you afford that?
Reality is when it comes to software people just live with the bugs. Sorry to break it to you, but the operating system you use does not change human nature. So with linux they'll effectively do the same thing they did with Microsoft products. Simply put, they'll learn how to live with and work around their daily problems associated with the platform. If it's an inferior setup, so be it, as long as it *almost* works and its cheap. If you need proof of end user acceptance of sub-par functionality talk to someone in IT, especially those that work at a mid-size or larger company containing a mobile sales force. You'll learn very quickly that users will figure out a workaround for any dysfunction in there apps. Even when they can often be fixed by IT in a matter of hours.
All that being said Microsoft may charge an arm and a leg for their product lines, but how many of you out there have really paid for the software on your home computer? Just because its digital doesn't give you the right to distribute it. I believe the stats say approximately 1 out of 10 people have not paid for the software on their PC, where do you think they make up the lost revenue? They jack up the prices. Oh sorry you're of the camp that don't use Microsoft because they're the devil, you only use Linux. Guess what once you finish popping your zits and enter the real world you'll be forced to deal with it. If you want to be a good little developer, IT tech, whatever its in your best interest to have it installed at home so you can actually test and learn on that platform.
Like it or not Microsoft has made some quality products. The goals for their products are just different from the average Linux users expectations. Microsoft's primary focus being dumb userability(usability) *AND* backwards compatibility. Lets see you take a binary app compiled 5-10 years ago and run it on 6 different linux distros and I mean different libc/gcc versions, let me know your success rate (look at the java incompatibly briefly found with Mozilla).... Why would I want to do something so silly? Probably because I'm a mid-sized company who knows the app works and can't afford to redeploy/retest the app in another form. Last I checked most Win32 applications compiled for Win95 will run on any Win32 operating syst
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Unattended (unattended.sf.net) is a great tool for such things, but more geared towards initial setup. I used it for software deployment at a company with ~150 employees, admitably not a lot, but enough to save me a few moments everyday. Take a look at the CVS repository for their install scripts. They use perl, but if you're comfortable with it Windows Scripting Host (*gasp* I suggested using VB scripts) makes it immediately accessible for people who may not, can not (some policy), or do not want to install something outside of what is required on their harddrive. Personally I think replication of the repository would be nice. If you structure it nicely you won't have to replicate parts you never use, such as "games". Nathan
Hmmm lets see everyone bitches on and on about how M$ tries to pull every dirty scam in the book. Its about the same as someone claiming that all Americans are idiots just because of their political leaders. I hear constant complaints about programmer jobs drying up or going to India. Microsoft is a big employer, believe it or not there is actually people in the company who spend more time developing, doing research, etc then being the company bulldog. And maybe, just maybe they out weigh the company bulldogs in head count. So if M$ becomes the underdog do you think those developer jobs will really get shifted elsewhere in the industry? If they do it will be to places like India and Russia, however many of them will simply disappear. An OS project can have numerous people on a project and very few of them get paid to be there. So if you have a project that was previously done in a company where all employee's were paid and it gets superceded by a *possibly* inferior or incomplete OS product what are the consequences? JOB LOSS!!!!!
Microsoft can't compete with free, but at what expense does free come. In this case it WILL be in jobs, no if's, and's or but's about it. Everyone's so obsessed about the idea of free that they've forgotten the true underlying costs. Sure you *maybe* able to start up a services company to provide linux support, but guess what the average Mom & Pop shop won't pay for your services because they can't afford it or they have a son/daughter/etc who will do most of it inadequately for free. Are you going to offer a <$500 service for potentially weeks of work? Large companies can afford to do it because of financial distribution and well designed frameworks, can you afford that?
Reality is when it comes to software people just live with the bugs. Sorry to break it to you, but the operating system you use does not change human nature. So with linux they'll effectively do the same thing they did with Microsoft products. Simply put, they'll learn how to live with and work around their daily problems associated with the platform. If it's an inferior setup, so be it, as long as it *almost* works and its cheap. If you need proof of end user acceptance of sub-par functionality talk to someone in IT, especially those that work at a mid-size or larger company containing a mobile sales force. You'll learn very quickly that users will figure out a workaround for any dysfunction in there apps. Even when they can often be fixed by IT in a matter of hours.
All that being said Microsoft may charge an arm and a leg for their product lines, but how many of you out there have really paid for the software on your home computer? Just because its digital doesn't give you the right to distribute it. I believe the stats say approximately 1 out of 10 people have not paid for the software on their PC, where do you think they make up the lost revenue? They jack up the prices. Oh sorry you're of the camp that don't use Microsoft because they're the devil, you only use Linux. Guess what once you finish popping your zits and enter the real world you'll be forced to deal with it. If you want to be a good little developer, IT tech, whatever its in your best interest to have it installed at home so you can actually test and learn on that platform.
Like it or not Microsoft has made some quality products. The goals for their products are just different from the average Linux users expectations. Microsoft's primary focus being dumb userability(usability) *AND* backwards compatibility. Lets see you take a binary app compiled 5-10 years ago and run it on 6 different linux distros and I mean different libc/gcc versions, let me know your success rate (look at the java incompatibly briefly found with Mozilla).... Why would I want to do something so silly? Probably because I'm a mid-sized company who knows the app works and can't afford to redeploy/retest the app in another form. Last I checked most Win32 applications compiled for Win95 will run on any Win32 operating syst