[Rockies-Edu] InstaDMG development changes, and it's future is uncertain
[Rockies-Edu] InstaDMG development changes, and it's future is uncertain
- Subject: [Rockies-Edu] InstaDMG development changes, and it's future is uncertain
- From: Corey Carson <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 01 Oct 2010 08:34:42 -0600
News from AFP548 yesterday. Karl Kuehne has been the sole developer of InstaDMG for quite some time. With a new job on the horizon, he is ceasing all development of InstaDMG in the very near future. It will either stay exactly where it is for all eternity, or some other person(s) will pick it up and continue the march. Who that will be, and the quality of the product going forward, are somewhat up in the air.
http://www.afp548.com/forum/viewtopic.php?forum=45&showtopic=27761
I've been a fan of InstaDMG from the beginning, and I still recommend it for those who have command line experience and a willingness to invest some time. We even spent 1 hour on it while doing the hands-on image creation/deployment seminar. However, now is a fantastic time to rethink how you may want to approach image creation going forward. I've never hidden my favoritism for Jamf Software when it comes to first-class imaging/deployment, and this is an opportunity to revisit this option. If you want the same flexibility and benefits that come with InstaDMG, you can absolutely get that with Jamf Software's Imaging Suite.
http://www.jamfsoftware.com/products/imaging-suite
Since this is a mature, commercial product, you get the following benefits with the Imaging Suite:
- Tech support via phone, email forums (all tech support is located in the U.S.)
- Graphical interface (!)
- Never-booted images that include Apple updates and your custom packages (10.5.8, 10.6.4 and even server images, if you need them)
- They're free of cruft, and work universally across all families of hardware compatibility
- You do not have to build images for each family of hardware anymore....one 10.6 image can work across all iMacs, Mac Pros, MacBooks, MBPs and Mac Minis
- Adobe CS support built into the image creation
- Building block towards full Casper Suite if you choose that later
- $500, one-time fee (no annual maintenance)
- Pay for future major upgrades as you see fit, just like Mac OS X Server, Adobe products, etc
Since the old "time = money" formula is still holding strong, this makes a tremendous amount of sense. I use it in my office, and really like it. There are engineers at Jamf that are willing to do a webinar for customers on this list, or come to Colorado, or both. If this is something that you want, let me know. Thoughts and opinions on this topic are more than welcome!
Thanks,
Corey
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Corey Carson
Apple Education
Colorado, Wyoming and Montana
303.378.7193
800.800.2775 (Tech Support)
Rockies-edu listserve:
http://bit.ly/rockies-edu
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