Text 64126, 89 rader
Skriven 2011-01-17 14:44:12 av Alan Zisman (1:123/789.0)
  Kommentar till text 64112 av Holger Granholm (2:20/228)
Ärende: Thumb drive programs
============================
On 16-01-11 8:45 AM, Holger Granholm -> Carroll McAllister wrote:

 CM>> Portable Apps isn't an OS, as much as it is a menu system that runs
 CM>> off removable disk drives. Portable Apps "modifies" Windows apps to
 CM>> be able to run off of a removable drive.

 HG> I have read that Portable Apps don't leave any tracks (cookies etc.) on
 HG> the host machine. How is that possible if they still rely on a Windows
 HG> OS being installed on the host.

Application developers make choices about where to store files used by the
application. Using typical Windows development tools, the defaults tend to be
to store DLLs (etc) in System folders, and system settings in the Registry -
but other choices are possible, such as in the application's install folder.

Each browser stores cookies in its own location - which is why, if you visit
the same website using 3 different browsers you will need to save 3 different
(otherwise identical) cookies - these are not managed by the OS.

 HG> Also, I have read that you can choose what applications you want to
 HG> include in the DL from: portableapps.com. Why would that choice be
 HG> available if Portable Apps run from Windows?

Why should that be different from any other download site? Portableapps.com has
created a number of recommended sets of (portable) applications - but you can
also download individual portable applications if you want.

Yes, these apps rely on an operating system - Windows - to provide system
services. (There are also portable application versions for Mac, though these
are less common).

 HG> Maybe there are different "Portable Apps",

Yes...

 HG> The text I'm reading from states that Sandisk sticks already contain
 HG> several programs like FireFox, McAfee and others. If you want to add
 HG> programs go to: www.U3.com to download the programs you need/want.
 HG> Some are free while others may cost. All programs from Portableapps.com
 HG> are free.

U3 is a different concept, though similar in a way. U3 apps are specially
written 'light' versions of applications - in some cases, versions of common
applications (like Firefox), in others, new applications specially developed
for U3- with a smaller footprint, and generally fewer capabilities than
full-fledged applications. U3 apps reside on a special partition on a flash
drive - when you plug in a U3-enabled flash drive, it appears as two drive
letters, one for a standard flash drive, the other one as a drive for your U3
applications.

Frankly, I find the whole U3 thing a pain - and whenever I end up with a flash
drive with a U3 partition, remove it (which takes a special utility). See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U3 for more information.

The portable apps movement, on the other hand, provides full-versions of common
open source applications, rewritten so that they do are fully-contained in
their application folder. This can be on a USB flash drive, but could also be
installed (or simply copied) onto a hard drive and run from there - making
installation and uninstallation far simpler.

 HG> If you go to PortableApps.com you can choose to download "Suite Light",
 HG> "Suite Standard" or "Platform only". The last option lets you choose the
 HG> programs you want to be included. A menu pictured shows 18 programs to
 HG> choose from including all variants of Mozilla's and OpenOffice's progs
 HG> as well as other free programs.

PortableApps.com is making use of open source software, which can be modified
as desired.

 HG> Nowhere does the text mention that Windows would be required but if so,
 HG> most computers run a Windows system anyway.

For better or worse, if no operating system is mentioned, Windows is implied.

 HG> Maybe the programs are portable versions of Windows programs, so what.
 HG> Anyway, the programs you use are not "modified" programs on the host
 HG> machine but may be modified programs to be run on a light system.

The portable apps will have the same system requirements as the standard
versions of the same apps. Portableapps.com's 'Suite Light' is more aimed at
folks with less room on their USB flash drives than people with slower CPUs,
less RAM, etc. Remember - while flash drives of 2 GB or larger are now
inexpensive and commonplace, this wasn't the case just a few years ago - when
the portable apps idea got started. My first USB flash drive had 64 MB
capacity, for instance. I've had a number of 256 and 512 MB drives... on those,
it was necessary to limit the number of portable apps installed.

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