In one of three new product releases from Aladdin Systems today, the company has announced the release of their commercial installer maker that is appropriately titled "InstallerMaker." The new version, 6.0, includes a host of new features and other improvements. According to Aladdin Systems:
Aladdin Systems, Inc., today announced StuffIt InstallerMaker(tm) 6.0 is now shipping. InstallerMaker 6.0 includes the new StuffIt(R) 5 technology, which compresses installers up to 15% tighter than any other software installation utility. InstallerMaker 6.0 is now PowerPC native to allow developers to create complex installers in half the time. InstallerMaker 6.0 includes several other new timesaving features to provide developers with the most streamlined solution for building installers.
InstallerMaker 6.0 New Features And Benefits
- StuffIt 5 technology provides up to a 15% compression increase
- PowerPC native for increased speed and performance, cutting build times in half
- Significantly faster disk searches when using file type and creator in search criteria
- Installation package selection dialog is now modeless, for user convenience
- Verify function now identifies and reports damaged archive items for easy removal
- New Assign/Remove multiple packages dialog saves time when assigning or removing multiple packages for selected archive items
- "Try Out Installation Dialog…" item on the Packages menu allows developers to test the installation dialogs without having to build and run the installer
- New Find Task provides easy ability to check for the existence of items on a user's system to make run time installation decisions using Install When conditions
- New Synchronize Dates AppleScript support quickly and easily synchronizes the creation and modification dates of archive items
- StuffIt 5.0 archives can now be expanded in network installers
- Custom installer icons can be set in the Installer Finder Info Options
- Supports MacBinary III file decoding in network installers
New StuffIt Technology
InstallerMaker 6.0 now includes a new StuffIt compression algorithm that compresses installers up to 15% tighter. Increased compression reduces Internet download times for end-users, provides added space on CD-ROMs or diskettes for distribution, increases hard disk space for fewer hardware upgrade needs, and increases network bandwidth. Developers have the choice of either Maximum compression, StuffIt 5 compression for the smallest installers possible, or Fastest compression, for quick installer builds. Items compressed using Maximum compression are easily identified in the archive window by a small red dot next to those items' icons.
Time-Saving Enhancements
Building installers is a snap with InstallerMaker 6.0's added time-saving features. Besides being PowerPC native, InstallerMaker's faster disk searches, new Assign/Remove multiple package feature, easy dialog testing, and faster synchronization of archive creation and modification dates helps to speed the installer process, increasing productivity. The installation package selection dialog is now modeless, freeing developers to quickly click out of the application to view other items.
InstallerMaker and its installers require a Macintosh with a 68020 or better processor. The InstallerMaker application requires System 7.1 or higher and 8 MB of allocated memory. Technical support is free for licensed developers.