Section 2.7. Releasing Products

2.7. Releasing Products

Once a product has been developed, tested, and documented, it eventually becomes ready to release. You want to release the software according to some predetermined plan. Too often, however, products just escape into the hands of customers because no one considered issues such as release numbers and license keys before releasing the product. Chapter 9 describes all of this.

With the increase in malicious software, assuring customers that the files they download are actually the same as the ones that you released is becoming an essential part of releasing software products. The use of digital signatures and checksums to help with this is discussed further in Section 9.2.8.

Since installing a product is often a customer's first experience of the software, and first impressions count, the installation process is important. Chapter 9 also examines the most common packaging formats and installation tools for a variety of platforms, as well as some common irritations with installation tools and the installers that they produce.