Is Admin Studio worth the 3K price tag per license?
After using KACE for some time, I've come across instances where being able to repackage a program would be highly advantageous. The question I have is whether or not a suite like Admin Studio is worth the 3K price tag, or if the free repackager provided by AppDeploy is sufficient. Thoughts?
Answers (4)
The Admin Studio repackager and the free repackaging tools out there, Appdeploy included, basically do the same thing. Admin Studio is definitely worth the price if you want to build your own MSIs but it definitely takes some effort in learning how to do so. Flexera offers this kind of training directly: http://www.flexerasoftware.com/services/education/course-listing.htm
Absolutely, free tools are limited and can do the job well, but if you want to have more options to improve the quality of your packages (automatically) then AdminStudio is currently the only product that will give you the right tools to :
- Repackage 32/64bit applications to MSI or a Virtual Format ( app-v, thinapp or citrix)
- Clean up the package according tobest practise
- edit the package to add upgrade, patch, driver, COM, and many more features to improve the quality
- Import the package into a database for intensive testing ( TestCenter)
- Automatically analyse and remediate issues with your package
- Automatically import into distribution tools like SCCM 2007/201
You can take a look on PACE - Packaging Acceleration Center. PACE consists of 5 products for application packaging:
- Automated Packaging Self Service
Fully automated application packaging (MSI, MST creation) and sequencing (App-V packages creation) using cloud based web self-service. Manual application installation and configuration is possible too.
- MSI Generator
You can get deployment-ready MSI package only in 10 clicks. At the same time MSI Generator provides advanced customization and control in application packaging.
- MSI Editor
The MSI Editor drastically reduces this time by simplifying and streamlining most trivial and routine editing operations.
- App-V Generator
App-V Generator employs a well-known and proven system snapshot comparison approach for App-V packages creation, which guarantees that no any changes done by original installation are missed (e.g. shortcut advertising functionality).
- Docu Generator
Docu Generator enables you to create installation instructions, error reports and any other “How-to” documents with minimum effort and maximum comfort.
Comments:
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Hello to everyone reading this! The links in the comment are old. Since 2016, we have made a lot of improvements to PACE Suite - check our new site: https://pacesuite.com/ - pace-support 7 years ago
I guess it depends on what is meant by Re-Packaging? Re-packaging an application that does not provide and MSI or repackage (for lack of a better word) and existing MSI. Most free utilities will only allow you to package an application that is not in the Windows Installer Format. In terms of the tool you may want to consider a few things. Training or learning how to use the tool, over-engineered products (features you will never use) and cost of add-on modules to support things like workflow or App-V as an example. Scalable provide the Smart Packager Pro that includes:
1. Packaging of legacy applications
2. "Re-Packaging" of existing MSI's. The product inlcudes a very efficient way of doing this in order to not "break" the MSI.
3. Workflow Management to support best practices
4. Package Editing
5. ISO Software Tagging to support SAM initiatives
The price is $999 for an annual subscription and $1774 for a perpetual license. The neat thing about this product is all the difficulty has been removed in terms of application pakaging so you really don't need to bring on an MSI specialist or go through a training process.
