Now that the 'Hide "portable" in app names' functionality is better supported in the menu, app store, and updater, I'm debating enabling it by default. It's a bit silly to see the word portable listed so many times in the menu. Particularly when the user is aware they're using portable software since it's through the PortableApps.com Platform. Users will still be able to manually switch to showing " Portable" or ", Portable Edition", of course.
The only possible snag is as we add the option for users to show locally-installed software when running the platform locally. In that case, though, we can likely add an indicator (either text or graphical) to indicate that it's not a portable app for local apps.
I'd love to know other folks' thoughts on this.
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Keeping in mind that this is me, personally:
Hiding "Portable" is one of the first settings I make on a drive I'm using, because as you said, I'm using it through the platform, and know that the apps are all portable already.
I agree that when we allow local apps, there should be some kind of indicator of such.
The only concern I have is: Will this affect any licenses and/or trade dress for apps we currently have? Such as Firefox, Portable Edition, for example?
The names of the apps themselves will remain as they are. They'll still show the full names on the app homepages. The tooltips will still show the full names. And the splash screens show the 'official' names as well. So, it should not be an issue.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
... i think leaving the word portable (as default) is the correct option... it (asking to remove the word) could be an install-option, like which-drive-letter and so on - but i think repeat-repeat-repeat for new-ish users is fine... in particular, i used-to-use PA a long time ago - stopped for awhile - and am now back-to-trying-it-again... however, i very-much want/need the hand-holding... if this were a project for a 'portable' operating system (like linux-on-cd or something-on-usb-key) rather than for the generic M$ universe, then maybe id think differently... but for now, i appreciate the word PORTABLE appearing often... and once i get tired of it, it will be nice to be able to turn-it-off...
h.
If people don't like seeing Portable after every App's name they already have the option to hide it. Personally I like it better showing, the list just looks weird to me with all those short App names.
Also newbies (the people the defaults are for) will benefit from the reminder that these Apps are really Portable, not a Local App, and not just some zipped up 'standalone' app that they dropped into the right place for the menu to show.
I'd still recommend some visual cue for Local Apps when you get that far as some people will likely be using the 'hide "Portable" in app names' function and will thus benefit from having another visual difference between their own Portable version(s) of an app and the Local version(s) that just happens to be installed on this particular machine.
~3D1T0R
Would such a change of defaults affect the trademark agreement PA.com has with Firefox, or would the splash-screen suffice?
(I’m in favor of the proposed change, BTW.)
Per my reply above: https://portableapps.com/node/42419#comment-218391
The combination of the treatment on the app homepage, in the app installer, on the app splash screen, in the app help file, and in the app's official name as shown when you hover over an app should be sufficient.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!