I’ve long used the TinyApps.org site to find small, often stand-alone programs (Irfanview for graphics, miniaim for AOL IM, Foxit Reader for PDFs) that work well and take up few resources — the requirements to be on the TinyApps site is to fit the program onto a 1.44 MB floppy disk. While it is still useful to have compact programs, the limitation of fitting on a floppy drive excludes many useful programs.
What’s needed today is compact programs that can be run entirely from a USB flash drive, so a person can use multiple computers yet still have their same applications, settings, and files with them wherever they go. PortableApps.com has just released (this week) a suite of programs that can be run from a portable drive (USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive), is open source, and free. Per their website, the sutie is free, with no spyware, advertisements, limitations, or trial versions.
The PortableApps Suite includes:
- ClamWin Portable (antivirus)
- Firefox Portable (web browsing)
- Gaim Portable (instant messaging)
- OpenOffice.org Portable (office suite) or AbiWord Portable (word processor for Lite Edition)
- Sudoku Portable
- Sunbird Portable (calendar/task manager)
- Thunderbird Portable (email client)
The standard suite runs comfortably from a 512MB drive, and the lite edition comfortably from a 256MB drive, according to the website. You can also dwnload the 1MB base edition, and choose just which applications to download. There are a variety of other applications available that are not in the suite, including a photo editor, RSS reader, webpage editor, and a media player. Another benefit is that the personal data is not left behind when you unplug the drive (in my time as tech support, I’ve seen way too much information left behind on public lab computers).
I can see this being a great benefit for college students that either can’t afford a computer at all and can use this to get by with using lab computers, or students that have a desktop computer but need to use their applications when they are away from their dorm/apartment.
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The best reason for it is because you can have your desktop from anywhere.
Even better, instead of using a thumbdrive you can use your MP3 player.
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