>Without any doubt, I am sure I will receive a request soon to provide a better install setup for a client. The one of Visual Studio does the job but there isn't much we can control about it. What is the best reference right now as far as installation software goes?

Also have a look at InstallAware (www.installaware.com)
It is easily customizable and there is an editor to help you create your dialogs that works very well. Localization is also well featured.
There is a comparison chart on their website, of course, completely biased, but it helps.