WinInsider

I have received today from Ditto announcement of Windows Installer RC1, details below.

We are pleased to announce the release of Windows Installer v3.0 (MSI3.0) RC1. This release contains improvements to simplify application servicing.

The redist package will not install on WinXP-SP2/RC1 or Win2k03/SP1.

New features in the MSI3.0 / RC1 release

Opt-in for Patch uninstall Authors need to explicitly mark patches in order to support uninstall.

MsiPatchMetadata The new MsiPatchMetadata table provides additional information about a patch - including whether it supports uninstall

PatchWiz.dll PatchWiz.dll, the SDK tool used to create MSPs has been enhanced to support the new MsiPatchSequence and MsiPatchMetadata tables. It can also generate automatic patch sequencing information that should suffice for simple product servicing. PatchWiz has been optimized to significantly reduce the time taken to create patches.

Standard Command Line Options MSI30 and update.exe support the same standard command line options to make it easy for administrators to control display, reboot behavior, install, uninstall, log generation and applying updates. Try msiexec /? after you install the RC1 bits.

Smaller Patches for Assemblies MSI30 adds support for smaller binary delta compression patches for assemblies.

Patch Sequencing Whitepaper MSI30/RC1 includes a whitepaper on patch sequencing to help product teams design and implement servicing strategies that can take advantage of Patch Sequencing.

Download:
The RC1 release is available at http://beta.microsoft.com. Sign in using your Passport account.

Bug Reporting/Feedback:
Use the Bug Reporting tool on http://beta.microsoft.com to submit your bugs to Microsoft. Post your technical support related questions and comments to the Microsoft private newsgroups created for this program.

Newsgroups:
You will need a newsreader program such as Outlook Express to participate in the newsgroups. To access the newsgroups you will need to configure your newsreader program with the account information listed below. If you do not already have a password, you can create a newsgroup password on http://beta.microsoft.com, under the "Modify Your Info/Modify Newsgroup Login Info". More detailed information about accessing the newsgroups is available on http://beta.microsoft.com.

All newsgroups for this beta program begin with: microsoft.beta.WindowsInstaller
Newsgroup Account Name:######
Newsgroup Password:
News Server: betanews.microsoft.com

*Note: If you forget the newsgroup password you create on Microsoft Beta, you will need to go to Microsoft Beta to create a new one.

If you need assistance, please send e-mail to ??????@microsoft.com alias.

Thank you for participating in this beta program. We look forward to your valuable feedback.

Windows Installer Group