What Windows platforms will Windows Installer 4.5 ship in?

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Our friends at InstallShield had some questions about schedule and platforms. One of those questions was:

Question:
What Windows platforms will Windows Installer ship in?

Answer:

Windows Installer 4.5 will initially ship as a Windows redistributable component via download center.  At RTM, redistributable packages will support installing to Windows XP SP2 and SP3, Windows Server 2003 SP1 and SP2, Windows Vista RTM and SP1, and Windows Server 2008.  These redistributable packages will support the three CPU architectures Windows to which these platforms ship: x86, x64, and ia64. These choices for platform support are consistent with the Windows Service Pack road map.

Just this week, it was published that

which also aligns with the Windows Installer 4.5 release date. 

Given the rough alignment of these dates, one would naturally wonder whether these pending of releases will include Windows Installer 4.5.  The short answer is: no.  The longer answer is: the logistics of live-live integration of a Windows component, such as Windows Installer, within a larger Windows release requires more time for both efforts so we've opted to not push Windows Installer 4.5 into these releases.

Looking ahead, it is a customary practice for future service packs and Windows releases to include a roll-up of the latest QFEs to its components.  To the process inside of Windows, Windows Installer 4.5 is simply a big QFE.  This QFE status is why Windows Installer 4.5 is available via download center but not yet Windows Update.  The requirements for Windows Update distribution will require work that will occur during the process of integrating into the next SP release(s).

[Author: Robert Flaming]
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