Uninstall this! Open source team at Microsoft powers installers
What's possibly the most used piece of software developed at Microsoft? The WiX toolset. It is used by Windows, Office, and even MySQL, among many other products, to install. What's even better is it's done by an all-volunteer team and it's open source too. I videoed the team a while back and just put the video up. Rob Mensching of the team is here at MindCamp.
Speaking of MindCamp, I am uploading an occassional photo on my Flickr feed.
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April 29th, 2006 at 10:10 pm
Robert, why doesn’t Microsoft open-source more tools, like the terrific Log Parser? This seems like it should be a no-brainer.
April 30th, 2006 at 6:15 am
That’s dedication. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing for money. Making a million is easy. Losing a million, that’s difficult. Some problems are bigger than others. Code is getting cheaper and more plentiful. I’m here pulling on wrenches and busting knuckles under the hood. No volunteers are showing up.
It’s me, the motor and some old iron. Ever uninstall a small block V-8? Get a little greasy and go for the G0-J0, if you got M0-J0. With fuel to burn and roads to grind, keep on rocking and rolling in the USA. Or sit there banging the keyboards all day.
April 30th, 2006 at 11:09 am
off topic but … it would be great if you “interview” more designers at microsoft.
the talk with jenny lam was amazing!
April 30th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
if they make MS an open source… then… how can MS earn money?
their sole existance is to make profit out of nothing… :(
April 30th, 2006 at 6:43 pm
[...] This weekend I read this post about the Windows Installer Xml (WiX) toolset, Microsoft's first open source software project that was given to the user community this month under the Common Public License. I find this move to be very interesting. I am not sure if Scoble is acting like a member of the public relations or marketing departments at Microsoft, or just highlighting something that Microsoft has done to help the software development community. I guess I am a little cynical, but it seems like this is a strategic move by Microsoft to gain favor from open source developers and users. After all, they are now an open source company, right? [...]
April 30th, 2006 at 8:42 pm
So, is this the beginning or the end of a trend to open source Microsoft software?
Can we expect Microsoft to more officially test the open source waters in the near future?
May 1st, 2006 at 6:58 pm
I would say it is the beginning of a lot more open source material from Microsoft.
A really great example is all of the built in ASP.NET Providers that were recently released:
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2006/04/13/442772.aspx
This adds a tremendous value to the community, as creating custom providers is something a lot of people will want to do (to work with their own database, etc), but the process can be a little complicated. By opening the source to the “official” providers, you get to see exactly how Microsoft intends your providers to be written.
May 3rd, 2006 at 9:08 pm
Some teams at Microsoft need to learn how to package their software correctly (i’m talking Windows Installer packaging, not retail box). The Office package is brilliant - easy to make MST’s without PackageStudio/AdminStudio. WMP9 is awful. Somebody tell them about WiX!