Installer, check thy dependencies!

I am starting to get concerned. A whole bunch of ISVs that rely heavily on the Windows platform for their sales do not appear to have active Vista development in progress. I've had "conversations" with half a dozen software vendors and service providers since I installed Vista two weeks ago because their software failed to install or failed to run after installation. Now, I'm not surprised that there is some breakage since RC1 is still a little ways off; I am surprised that they are blissfully unaware of the major platform shifts that are coming soon to PCs everywhere. In at least one case they were actively hostile on the subject of Vista and intentionally, unsympathetically ignoring it in their support forums and in customer service interaction. Which is bizarre, because we're trying to help! (That unnamed major music service now has one fewer subscriber.)

The unnamed software which inspired the title of this post refuses to install on Vista because it can't detect ActiveSync, which has been subsumed into the platform as Windows Mobile Device Center. Whoops. It seems to me that the desktop version of the software would work just fine, even without ActiveSync present, so this seems like an overzealous installer dependency anyway. <big sigh />

The sooner ISVs put their mitts on Vista and put their own "betas" of Vista-capable software in play, the sooner we can help them acclimate and improve their RTM readiness!!

p.s. Anybody know of a password safe that will run on Vista and Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition? (Yes, my phone unit is old. Nobody has yet been willing to donate a WM5 device to my worthy cause. Heh.)