That may be true and I know it's what M$ and all of the installer companies tell you, but there are times when you simply cannot accomplish what you need to do without doing a direct edit. And to be honest, sometimes it's just a lot easier to do a down and dirty msi edit intead of generating a transform. Just keep and original of that msi for backup. I agree with you. I have had some msis i've dealt with in past which direct editing was the best option.