Understanding the MSIX packaging technology
MSIX is a new packaging technology introduced by Microsoft with the goal to solve many of the challenges that the previous installation technologies (such as MSI or ClickOnce) have created over the years. Some of these challenges include the following:
- The need for enterprises to repackage applications at every update when they have to make any customization to satisfy the company's requirements
- The requirement of using third-party tools or Visual Studio customizations to create an installer as part of the build process
- The need to use third-party services (or build your own custom one) if you want to provide automatic updates
- The inability to completely uninstall an application often leaves orphan registry keys or files, which, over time, slow down the operating system
The key difference between MSIX and other technologies is that it's completely integrated into Windows. This means that many of the challenges...