| Platform SDK |
One of the biggest, and most expensive tasks facing any organization is the installation and distribution of software. Getting vital applications onto user's machines, repairing broken installations, and upgrading existing installations is often a major undertaking for an organization, and a significant contributor to the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). This is compounded by the tendency to treat setup and installation as an afterthought; something to be done after the product is finished. This, along with poor assumptions about installation scenarios typically results in an awkward and often costly setup process.
By following the installation guidelines contained in this issue, developers can significantly lower the cost of distributing applications, decrease support cost by designing self-repairing programs, increase both robustness and resiliency, and make a users first experience of an application a more pleasurable one.
The three general guidelines that are important to remember are
Specific Microsoft® Windows® operating system platform implementation guidelines can be found directly below each of these sections.