Systems Management

Hey Enz,

I work for a school district also. I use Wise Package Studio version 7. I started with version 5 and have been with them ever since. We also purchased the Quality Assurance module. It is well worth the extra expense. Also, the process checklist that is included and can be modified has been a great help for me to avoid making stupid mistakes. I haven't looked at InstallShield (Macrovision) or whatever they are called now for quite some time so I can't speak for their products but I saw your post and thought I would pass along my .02 worth.

Cheers

Hi Crawl

Thanks for your information. I would like to know which edition which your school has. The Wise Package Studio Standard Edition or Wise Package Studio Professional Edition? Their price is really much difference. If we really need the professional Edition, school will buy it. We only dont want to waste the money.

Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks.

enz

Hi Enz,

Sorry, I should have been more clear. We have the professional edition with quality assurance. I just took a look at the options grid and realized that I'm only using one feature (test expert) of the quality assurance module. I don't do the whole preflight check for various reasons. Between, the test expert (QA module), the package validation tool (standard and pro editions) and the conflict manager (pro edition), I can resolve most all conflicts before our packages hits our desktops. In fact, I have only had 1 conflict since we purchased this product 3 years ago. Before that, we always had conflicts and issues.

Anyway, the options grid can be found at this link (http://www.wise.com/upload/altiriswps_featuregrid_70sp1_001.pdf). Also, since you're in a school district with a tight budget like ours, training wasn't even being looked at until our sales rep for Wise highly recommended it and then someone with the purse strings allowed me to go. Training was a huge benefit for me. It helped me understand many of my previous mistakes and really taught me a ton about the whole windows installer concept in addition to the Wise product.

Like I mentioned previously, InstallShield might have a similar solution but I'm just not that familiar with their stuff but I've been very happy with our decision to go with Wise. If we ever had to cut something, I'd probably cut the QA module but I wouldn't cut the pro edition because I love having the software manager, conflict manager and a few other features that aren't offered in the standard edition. I hope this helps and best wishes in your search!

Thank you for your clear information. We decide to go with the Professional Edition and also purchase the Quality Assurance Module.

We receive the quote but with in the quote it has something i dont really understand.

Wise Package Studio 7.0 Professional with SVS 50 clients (includes 12 months AUP)

What is the SVS 50 clients stand for? Is it said i only allow to have 50 clients machine in our school? Hope you can help me this time again.

Once again, thank you very much.

enz

Hi Enz,

SVS stands for Software Virtualization Solution. Since Altiris owns Wise, they throw these clients in as teasers more than anything. We haven't started using this product here yet but I know other organizations that swear by it. As long as your getting 50 clients, you can check it out. Here's a link to this product: http://www.altiris.com/Products/SoftwareVirtualizationSolution.aspx. It probably seems that I work for Altiris or Wise[8|] but I don't. We use Altiris products extensively but the one thing I always point out to others is that we purchased Wise BEFORE Altiris bought them out. My only gripe with Altiris owning Wise is that they always seems to mess up our yearly invoice for support and the AUP with Quality Assurance. The last two years, I've had to fight with Altiris to make sure the Quality Assurance doesn't get left off the AUP. I'm not sure why this is so difficult for them (maybe it's just me?). Other than that I've been very happy with the product and I hope the product will serve your needs as well.

Take care.