As a Windows sysadmin I pine for developers to use MSI. Having applications managed by the Windows Installer makes automated installation, removal, and repair so easy. MSI has its warts, to be sure, but "clean" MSIs (that don't rely on lots of custom actions, embed binaries that the just execute, etc) are a joy to work with.
How well a software developer / "manufacturer" deals with "setup" in the Windows ecosystem has almost always been a proxy for overall software quality in my experience. When "setup" is left as an afterthought I can usually expect other corners have been cut. When I see a custom binary running an installation I start thinking "brown M&M's".
How well a software developer / "manufacturer" deals with "setup" in the Windows ecosystem has almost always been a proxy for overall software quality in my experience. When "setup" is left as an afterthought I can usually expect other corners have been cut. When I see a custom binary running an installation I start thinking "brown M&M's".