Software Deployment

I encountered my first application that utilizes InstallShield's Update Service.

Desktop Engineers, Network Administrators, and Security Analysts control applications, bandwidth, and 'who and what' access the desktop. This is not something unique to one company or the next, but rather the direction of Microsoft for corporate desktop management. It's a concern that is much larger than the installation of one application.

An application like InstallShield's Update Service is considered contrary to the efforts to manage the environment. While you can launch InstallShield's Update Service and disable it, an application shouldn't be loading it in the first place. At the firm I work for we manage thousands of applications. Allowing even a few applications to "Phone Home" at will to check for updates would bypass "best practices" for firewalls we have in place, become an unknown in the management of bandwidth, and allow for an uncontrolled back door onto the desktop. All items that we want to avoid.

I'm sure there are some Mom and Pop operations who consider this feature a "Service", but in managed environments it should be considered in the same category as Spyware.

While InstallShield is the product I learned how to package with, this is another example of their singular concern with only the installation and not health and well being of the desktop as well as application integration.

What were they thinking?