I'm wanting to clarify if freeware online installers are ok to be included on the development test release table. This came up in a recent discussion and I couldn't find anything on the forums to indicate as such.
John, can you clarify this and if there isn't a hard and fast rule as yet would anyone like to weigh in with what they think on the matter.
Thanks 
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There's no freeware allowed in the Development Test section.
Gizmokid2005 said it when somebody posted their launcher.
https://portableapps.com/development/test#comment-131882
Edit: Wait, nevermind. Sorry, not completely sure on ONLINE installers.
All new Development Tests comments are just left in the Development test section since 25 Okteber. I'm not sure if they are all freeware though !
There again, the test section would just grow out of proportions if they would allow it.
Formerly Gringoloco
Windows XP Pro sp3 x32
Thus far, we have not allowed any form of freeware in the table there.
I haven't received any word that this policy has changed.
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
So it seems there is no codified policy for this as far but rather just past practice has not included freeware online installers. John could you please enlighten us to your thoughts?
Personally I think it should be included. I think if freeware is going to be a part of PortableApps.com it should be given equal coverage to OSS software. I understand we will always advocate reference for OSS over freeware but to not include it on the development test release table means potential testers\users will have to search to the forums to find the software. History shows new users don't always utilise the search function and end up requesting a software that has been in development for some time. Also Drupal's search functionality is still lacking somewhat.
PortableApps.com Advocate
I think I'd be ok with it being added to the testing table provided it's marked properly as freeware and it's for apps we have permission for or that do proper online installers. Thoughts?
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At a macro level, I think official PortableApps freeware should be afforded the same exact treatment as all the official FOSS apps and not be treated as a second-class citizen of PortableApps (short of hosting them on Sourceforge and the like of course
)
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I think my input from Oct 31 is still valid... start a separate page, or a separate table on the same page. Either one would help organize the information.
neutron1132 (at) usa (dot) com
I'd agree. I personally feel we should make a separate table/list for freeware though, to keep them properly separated. And if we add them to the page we should clearly list whether it is an online installer or not, since probably quite a big portion of the freeware apps will be.
Behold, the DutchLander has arrived.
Grammatical errors are copyrighted.
I think we'd need another column for "License", but as you've said, we don't really have much space there...
Then you could have values like "Freeware, online" and "Freeware, bundled", or "GPLv2", "GPLv3", "Apache", "TrueCrypt", and put links in them all.
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
Well, the name column of the table currently is quite a bit wider than actually needed, so we could theoretically make that smaller. Although I don't even want to begin to think about how much work updating all existing entries would be.
What I was thinking was more along the lines of a separate table for freeware, with a column indicating whether it is an online installer or not. That could be a quite small column, seeing how it would just have to contain "Yes" or "No".
Behold, the DutchLander has arrived.
Grammatical errors are copyrighted.
Delete it and start over. Well, except for the stuff we know is recent.
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why. AFAIK nobody updates it. Course, maybe if people followed the format it wouldn't be so hard.
Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world
I just updated it yesterday, so this is obviously not true
You are mostly right though, it doesn't get updated a lot. The biggest task this time was filtering out all the launchers. We really should add a part about that to it, similar to the "this is not a place to request apps" part.
Behold, the DutchLander has arrived.
Grammatical errors are copyrighted.
Personally, I think the whole table needs to be redone from scratch. There are so many programs that are out of date on the list, and apps that aren't listed, and so many other problems, that it's just begun to clutter up. I can quickly point out 3 errors off the top of my head. I cant remember the last time I used that list.
As someone who helped make alot of corrections on the list before, I have a few ideas. Maybe make it so people can just add/edit specific lines of text instead of making an entire HTML code to change something on the menu, considereing all the lines have the same layout. Developers can take responcibility of updating their own programs on the menu. And, if there is a new version of an app available, but the portable version is not updated, it gets listed as an Outdated Application.
What do you think?
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Why not just have a form where developers/people can submit programs that should be on the list. There could be several lines so everything required in the table could be submitted. Then an admin could check to make sure everything is correct before adding it to the table. This could automate the process a bit more so it wouldn't be so time consuming.