PortableApps.com

multiple issues
laundry = January 2008
advert = January 2008
primarysources = July 2008Infobox_Company
company_name = PortableApps.com
company_
company_type = Community
company_slogan = Your Digital Life, "Anywhere"
foundation = 2005
location = US
industry = Computer software
homepage = [http://portableapps.com PortableApps.com]

PortableApps.com is a compilation of free and open source portable computer applications programs for Microsoft Windows founded by John T. Haller, and members of the site's community. The applications can run directly from any storage equipment which can be randomly read from and written to, including flash drive, MP3 player, external hard drive, floppy disk (if capacity is sufficient), possibly rewritable optical disk, or directly from a computer's mass storage device. These applications do not leave any data on the host computer. They are also modified to minimize drive usage to prolong device life. Most can run on almost any computer with Windows 95 and above or with Linux under Wine. [cite web |url=http://portableapps.com/apps/compatibility |title=PortableApps.com OS Compatibility List |publisher= PortableApps.com |accessdate=2007-10-20 ]

The PortableApps.com project is hosted on SourceForge.net, and has gained some popularity. [ [http://sourceforge.net/top/topalltime.php?type=downloads SourceForge.net Top All Time Downloads List] ] It has been at number 4 in the total weekly downloads on SourceForge; as of 17 June 2008 it is at number 5 [ [http://sourceforge.net/top/toplist.php?type=downloads_week SourceForge.net Weekly Downloads List] ] .

All launchers and included applications are free of charge and open source, usually under the GNU General Public License [cite web|url=http://portableapps.com/ |title=PortableApps.com |publisher=PortableApps.com |accessdate=2007-10-20] .

Portable applications

PortableApps applications are computer programs that can be stored on a portable storage device and used on any Windows computer directly from the external device, without being installed onto the computer. Software is typically loaded onto a USB flash drive, USB hard drive, MP3 player or other removable media, although it can be copied onto the computer's mass storage and run from there. All of the program settings and data are stored on the portable media. When the program is shut down and the device is unplugged, no data should be left on the computer. No registry entries are made, and no administrator privileges or additional software needed.

History

PortableApps.com started out as a batch script to run Firefox from a flash drive. [cite web|last = Haller|first = John|title = Portable Firefox|url=http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=233313|accessdate = 2007-10-20] John T. Haller then expanded the project to include Portable Thunderbird and OpenOffice.org. Soon the completely open source suite of programs outgrew Haller's personal WWW site and Haller moved it to a community site which now serves as a location to centralize the knowledge and development efforts of several portable application projects.

Applications

The best-known applications on PortableApps.com are Firefox Portable and Thunderbird Portable; but there are several others, like OpenOffice.org Portable - an office suite, ClamWin Portable - an antivirus, and VLC Portable - a multimedia player. Many forum members help creating and developing more portable applications.

Community

The PortableApps.com community tries to help applications development by reporting software bugs, making suggestions, and making further applications portable. The site currently hosts various projects created by forum members, including Toucan and WinMerge Portable. Hosting more applications created by the community is planned. [cite web |url=http://portableapps.com/node/11606 |title=PortableApps.com Update (Week of Feb 18, 2007) |publisher=PortableApps.com |accessdate=2008-02-25 ]

PortableApps.com Platform

The central product of PortableApps.com is the Platform, which includes both the PortableApps Format and the Menu.

The PortableApps Format is specified by the .paf.exe file extension. Applications packaged in the format must conform to its specifications, which include an INI file with details on the package, separation of application and data and HTML documentation. This allows for simple backup of data with the PortableApps Backup utility.

PAF installers (files with the .paf.exe extension) are usually NSIS launchers, but can also be 7-Zip self extractors, or indeed any executable. These types of "installers" are being phased out in favour of a more friendly official installer. This allows silent installation from the command line which may be featured in a future version of the PortableApps Menu. All the official applications available at PortableApps.com are now formatted under the PAF.

The PortableApps Menu (PAM) is included in a suite package, which includes many popular applications. [cite web|url=http://portableapps.com/suite |title=PortableApps.com Suite Page |publisher= PortableApps.com |accessdate=2007-10-20] The installer extracts a launcher for the PAM, a Documents folder, a folder named PortableApps (which holds installed/included applications and the menu) and an autorun.ini. The PAM can be downloaded in the Standard, Lite, or Basic edition, however there are plans to create more suite versions. [cite web|first=John |last=Haller |url=http://portableapps.com/node/8469 |title=PortableApps.com Suite 1.1 App Inclusion Ideas |publisher=PortableApps.com |accessdate=2007-10-20]

Criticisms

There had been some criticism regarding the delay between the official release of an application, and the availability of a portable version. Also, fewer applications are available than supported by some other platforms, though, unlike U3 and Ceedo, anyone can easily add any portable software to the PortableApps.com Menu.Fact|date=August 2008

There is a bug in Firefox Portable which may leave files behind when associating a file from the internet with another program. This can be avoided by closing the associated file before closing FirefoxFact|date=June 2008 .

Even if autorun is enabled on the host PC, the PortableApps menu cannot run automatically unless set up to do so on first install under Windows XP or Vista. Instead the user has to be prompted if they want to see it or not. U3 uses a hardware component to let a memory stick imitate a CD drive, allowing the autorun feature to display a menu upon insertion.Fact|date=August 2008

A number of the applications included in PortableApps.com are inherently portable, with "official" versions of the software being released (for example) in ZIP format, which can simply be uncompressed and copied to a USB drive, where it would be ready for use anyway. The repackaging of these applications only serves to integrate with the PortableApps.com menu. An example of this is XAMPP which is installed independently on the removable device and only integrated by using the XAMPP Launcher. This is explained on http://portableapps.com/apps/development/xampp quoting "Menu Integration: XAMPP isn't in PortableApps.com Format, but it easily integrates with the PortableApps.com Suite by using the XAMPP Launcher 1.3 and installing XAMPP in the root directory of your portable device (as recommended)." Fact|date=September 2008

List of PortableApps.com Applications

Accessibility

*Firefox Accessibility Extension
*On-Screen Keyboard Portable
*Virtual Magnifying Glass Portable

Development

*Notepad++ Portable - source code editor
*Nvu Portable & KompoZer Portable - HTML editor
*XAMPP - Apache, mySQL, PHP, phpMyAdmin, and more in a single package

Education

* BPBible Portable - Bible Study Tool
*Stellarium Portable - planetarium

Games

*DOSBox Portable - DOS game emulator
*Jooleem Portable - Puzzle game
*Mines Perfect Portable - Minesweeper style game
*PokerTH Portable - Texas Hold 'em game
*Sudoku Portable - Sudoku like game
*LBreakout2 - breakout-style arcade game similar to Arkanoid

Graphics & Pictures

* Cornice Portable - Image Viewer With Slideshow
*GIMP Portable - advanced image editor

Internet

*FileZilla Portable - FTP client
*Miranda IM Portable - instant messenger
*Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition - web browser
*Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition - e-mail client
*Nvu Portable & KompoZer Portable - HTML editor
*Pidgin Portable - multi-protocol instant messenger
*PuTTY Portable - TELNET and SSH client
*WinSCP Portable - SFTP, FTP, and SCP client

Music & Video

*Audacity Portable - audio editor
*MPlayer Portable - audio and video player
*VirtualDub Portable - video editor
*VLC Media Player Portable - multimedia player
*BonkEnc Portable - extract,convert and encode audio
* CoolPlayer+ Portable - lightweight,fast,easy-to-use audio player

Office

*AbiWord Portable - lightweight word processor
*Mozilla Sunbird, Portable Edition - calendar program
*OpenOffice.org Portable - office suite
*PDFTK Builder Portable - PDF documents editor
*Sumatra PDF Portable - PDF viewer
* SpeedCrunch Portable - an intuitive algebraic calculator
*Task Coach Portable - Task manager
*GnuCash Portable - accounting,expenses and financial management
* PNotes - Note Taking

Operating Systems

*Mac-On-Stick - Run Mac OS Classic 7 portably

Utilities

*7-Zip Portable - archiving and extraction tool
*ClamWin Portable - antivirus utility
*Command Prompt Portable - command prompt launcher
*Eraser - Portable - file deletion utility
*InfraRecorder Portable - CD and DVD burner
*JkDefrag Portable - a disk defragmenting utility
*KeePass Portable - password organizer
*Lightscreen Portable - easy to use screenshot tool
*PeaZip Portable - archiving and extraction tool, with hash calculation and secure file deletion features
*Toucan - sync, backup, and encryption utility
*WinDirStat Portable - disk usage analyzer and cleanup tool
*WinMd5Sum Portable - Md5 hash verifier
*WinMerge Portable - file comparison
*Xenon File Manager Portable - portable file browser

ee also

*Portable application
*List of portable software
*VMware ThinApp, a virtualization suite that has the ability to make portable programs

References

External links

* [http://portableapps.com PortableApps.com - Official Site]
* [http://portableapps.com/about/press/news PortableApps.com (Press Page)] - Features multiple links to stories, overviews, and reviews about PortableApps.com
* [http://www.cnettv.com/9710-1_53-25056.html?tag=bubbl_1 CNETTV.com] Video
* [http://www.download.com/PortableApps-Suite-Standard-Edition-/3000-2064_4-10608886.html?tag=featured.editor Download.com] editors' review
* [http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2006/11/holiday_must_ha.html Blog.Wired.com Review]