I did a quick take of the net via google, but didn't come up with anything. Installshield is base on Microsoft's MSI technology, so I wouldn't expect it to suport Linux. What about Kylix? Seem like it would come with software to distribute your app. Any install software working with Redhat would need to work with RPM so everything could be put into the rpm database. Then Redhat can check for dependency problems whenever new software/apps are added. Windows may be more advanced in this area, maybe because there are so many version of linux and the linux market share is not near what it is for windows. To complicate things different version of Linux use different technologies to install new software. Also, I would expect each proprietary Unix/Apple/etc to have their own method.

Some apps can run across platforms like jave. Once the runtime is setup on the platform, the java app should run. I guess Microsoft's .Net strategy would be something like this. Once the operating system has the .Net layer install, any CLR should run, because the Operating System would have all the base classes and libraries, kind of like the way java works. This would make it easy to distribute your app because the runtime is built into the OS. It will be interesting to see how .Net develops, and whether apps written and compiled with the CRL will run accros most platforms. Apps written in c, c++, perl, etc are very portable. All you need to do is compile the source under the desired platform as the OS provides the libraries, etc. I think Linux will make some headway in Corporate American the next year, even as a desktop app. It would be perfect for medium to small business like from 100 to 1000 employees, and 50 to 500 million annual revenues. Of course this is the very market which Microsoft .Net is trying to woo.