PortableApps.com Suite 1.5 Released In English and German

John T. Haller's picture
Submitted by John T. Haller on March 6, 2009 - 5:34pm

PortableApps.com Flash DrivePortableApps.com is proud to announce the English and German release of the PortableApps.com Suite 1.5, making it easier than ever to carry your favorite software with you. This new update makes the most popular portable software platform even better than before, updating to the latest PortableApps.com Platform and all the bundled apps. Browse the web, check your email, chat online, listen to music, keep your passwords secure, work on documents, check your datebook and even play a few games... all on the go. And, as always, it's all open source and completely free.

The PortableApps.com Suite 1.5 Standard and Light Edition are available for immediate download from PortableApps.com.

Read on for more details...

Included Applications

PortableApps.com ScreenshotAll versions of the PortableApps.com Suite include the integrated PortableApps.com Menu (pictured at right) and the PortableApps.com Backup utility along with a set of custom icons, an autoplay configuration, folders and a quick start shortcut. In addition, the packages include:

*Note: The Light Suite includes AbiWord Portable (word processor) instead of OpenOffice.org Portable.

New In PortableApps.com Platform 1.5

PortableApps.com ScreenshotThe PortableApps.com Platform 1.5 release adds lots of new features including:

New Theme - The PortableApps.com Menu has a greatly improved display engine and a slick new theme to go along with it. It's PNG based allowing transparent hovers on buttons and other great looking extras. And the next release of the platform in 2 weeks will let you theme it yourself.

App Icon Renaming - Now you can rename all your apps so they appear just as you like.

App Icon Hiding - You can easily hide icons right from the menu. This is especially useful when you add apps that aren't in PortableApps.com Format (Did you know the PortableApps.com Platform works with all portable apps?).

Better Multilingual Support - The Platform now supports 37 languages and has a 55 langauge installer making it easy for everyone to install and use.

App Language Switching - When you switch languages in the menu and then launch one of our apps like Pidgin, GIMP, Notepad++, VLC and others, the app will automatically come up in the language the menu is set to. This way, you don't have to hunt around in an app to figure out how to change its language.

Improved Wallpaper Swapper - The built in wallpaper swapper now supports widescreen and standard wallpapers and will automatically use the best one for the PC you're on.

Run As (Admin) - You can now run individual applications as an admin or other user directly within the menu.

Hide Desktop Icons - You can optionally have the platform hide the PC's desktop icons while it's running, giving you a cleaner desktop.

Transparency - The menu supports a new transparency setting to give it a glassy effect and see the desktop below it.

App Details on Hover - When you hover over an app's icon, you can see all the details of the app. Now you don't have to start it up to remember what version you have installed.

And more...

Installing and Upgrading

Whether installing or upgrading, with PortableApps.com, it's a snap. Just download the new PortableApps.com Suite 1.5 release, Standard or Light depending on your needs, and install it to your portable device's root directory. If you're upgrading, it will automatically detect your existing install. Please note that if you are using a modified version of the menu or the theme from the 1.1 release, it will be replaced with the official 1.5 menu and theme.

Another Release Coming Soon!!

Best of all, another release of the PortableApps.com Platform is coming within the next couple weeks. We did this interim release to get some new features and functionality in the hands of users and so that OpenOffice.org could give away the latest and the greatest at CeBIT in Germany this week. The 2.0 release will have all the features of 1.5 plus new theming options and other advanced features. Look for the first beta test to hit the forums within a few days.

Download Today

The English Standard and Light Editions of the Suite are available from the PortableApps.com Platform / Suite homepage. The German Standard and Light Editions are available from the PortableApps.com Platform / Suite German homepage. Download it today!

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Comments

John T. Haller's picture

Fixed, thanks Smile

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

The MAZZTer's picture

May I suggest in-line renaming for 2.0? The standard ListView and TreeView do it simply by plopping a TextBox down over the text and focusing it. You could do the same thing assuming you're not working with standard controls.

Signature automatically removed for being too awesome.

John T. Haller's picture

The next version's rename window will have a bit more detail describing the original name with a button to revert to the original... it was left out since we didn't have time to translate it. And we're not using standard controls, it's a custom one.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

The MAZZTer's picture

I meant if you WERE using custom controls you could use the same method, IE stick a textbox over it, focus it, and remove it when the textbox loses focus or the user presses Enter/Escape.

Signature automatically removed for being too awesome.

John T. Haller's picture

Sorry, but I lost count as you posted a bunch of different versions in different places, some missing strings, some with errors of double-quotes in the translation (which is invalid and makes the compilation fail). Please make a new forum post with all the proper, full translations and I'll include it in the next release.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Hey, me again, could you please update the MD5 Sums on the Suite page to reflect the changes. I like to make sure I get clean, unbroken copies of all your great software, Thanks. I see you updated all of the software in the Suite to their latest versions, everything looks great! Just one thought for the next release, could you add a GUI Options pane accessible from the Options drop-down on the menu, a nice interface to adjust the PortableAppsMenu.ini to get at advanced features like Transparency, Remain Visible, Hide Desktop Icons, Wallpaper swapper, etc. You know, a nice central interface that lists and allows one to adjust all of the great additional features that the PortableApps Menu has to offer.

Chris Morgan's picture

But I wish to nitpick Blum
URL alias is news/2009-03-02_-_suite_1.5, wrong date, should be news/2009-03-06_-_suite_1.5

But thanks for this new release Smile

I am a Christian and a developer and moderator here.

“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1

dreamisle's picture

I like some of the new features, but I'm mad as hell that the installer deleted my custom theme that I worked so hard to create. I hope when I get home I can find a copy of it.

David Millar

John T. Haller's picture

The old theming was unofficial (since it's editing a part of the App directory) and every post on here explaining it said that it would be deleted on any upgrades. If there are external sites that show how to theme without that warning, it's pretty irresponsible of them and I'm sorry you got burned as a result. You may be able to undelete it since the files were deleted, not replaced. Check one of the file recover utilities online. PhotoRec may help.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

dreamisle's picture

That's good to know for the future then, I suppose.

Oddly enough, the only real places I had read on theming were from the forums here - yet I never came across that warning. Oh well.

David Millar

I did a search for "theme 1.5 update" and only found one post that mentioned it.
It was the RC post for 1.2 (as it was called then):
https://portableapps.com/node/18315
"If you are upgrading from an unofficial menu or have unofficial themes installed, they may be removed. All users are encouraged to backup their data before installing to be safe."

I also didn't realize that the theme function in 1.1 was considered to be unofficial, since the functionality was included.
Since I was using 1.1 (official) and since I believed that I was creating themes as designed for that release, I also did not expect them to be deleted.

It would be nice to put a clearer warning on the Announcement and DL pages for the official releases of 1.5 and 2.0, since creation of themes is a major investment of creativity for a lot of users...

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

John T. Haller's picture

There was no mention of theming in the announcement for the 1.1 platform (which introduced the separation of the images from the actual menu EXE) nor on its homepage nor on its support page. The only time it was mentioned was during the release candidate phase of 1.1 in the forum post about testing it in which case I said it was introductory just so people could play with it and get a feel for it. That's it. There was never any official theming process for 1.1 and one was never introduced, published or encouraged on the pages of this site. The only place it was discussed on this site was in the forums.

In essence, you were modifying the bundled, default theme for the menu. Which will be replaced on each upgrade. Just as if you modded the bundled theme for Firefox in its program directory before it officially started supporting themes. Just because it worked didn't mean it was official.

There are lots of things you can do with all software. Some are unofficial and only undertaken by modifying files within an App directory.. as such the user should understand that they're basically on their own in doing so. I'm sorry that the users introducing and discussing themes in the forums weren't clearer about the way it worked. Unfortunately, there is not much we can do about that now for you. I've added a note for upgraders on the chance that someone else may have misunderstood the status of themes and mods.

If you have further support questions, please post them in the forums.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

I just started using the 1.5 version for the first time ever
I just have to say this is one excellent program.
I have so many portables made with ThinApp 4.0 and this baby is just what I'v been looking for.

Great job can't wait for the skinable version sweet

from H.W

H.W