I use one of your competitor's software on a daily basis. I won't mention any trademarked names, but it is the "shield" one. I'm still using an old version of it, so I'm not sure if this still holds true for the newer versions. What I like about it is it allows me to design my setup from a component perspective.

I haven't played much with the other major competition (I will "wisely" not mention their name as well). From what I recall, their approach was slightly different in the sense that you simply tell it what files go where, and to which feature, and then it figures out all the components based on best practices.

The value in the latter approach is that an inexperienced developer can crank out a basic setup w/o having to know the ins-and-outs of Windows Installer. For an advanced developer, like myself, we need to be able to control every aspect of the setup, down to the files, regkeys, shortcuts, etc., that get placed in a component. Thankfully we are not "shielded" from this in the first product I mentioned.

So, on to my request: Please design the product with the advanced developer in mind. Judging from the name, you have already thought of this.

Thanks! It’s good to see some alternatives to the two major players in this field.

--edit--
Don't take the title if the thread the wrong way. I'm not questioning if it is advanced or not...
--end edit--

Excellent observations.

Our plan is to:
a) have Advanced Installer automatically generate everything for the basic user
b) have UI which allows the advanced user to tweak things to his taste while keeping the MSI package valid and conformant

In v0.1, a) is already implemented. b) is on the to do list for a future update.

Regards,
Cata