While I wasn't here for the beginning...

Yeah, perhaps that wasn't really what I was going for. Aside from, some things going on unrelated, the last post was somewhat of a continuation of and extension of a previous post I'd started to write, but decided not to post. Irrelevant? Not really. I didn't post it because it wasn't a comment or a question or a suggestion, just musing that really didn't leave much room for an answer, or at least not a good one.

And the gist of that post was this: What is the point of having portable Win32 software on hardware that is likely to fail, to be used in a method that Microsoft and/or IT departments are likely to block, when smartphones are so stupidly cheap, and accomplish just about everything PortableApps set out to accomplish, and are many times more portable.

See? No good answer. Of course, a wise man might say that you could put PortableApps on the microSD card and have the best of both worlds. But that's really beside the point.

But, John, it isn't 13 days, that's just a few days shy of how long it had been since the latest app release. For PortableApps to be viable, portable versions have to come out the same day as the regular versions. And I know, volunteers and all that, but then you have this other guy, Josh, he's got no plan, seems to just do things for the hell of it... and he's got his releases out the day-of. And for a lot more apps -- most of them pirated, but that's beside the point. He's doing it. An app comes out, he's got the PAF version slammed out, that day. That his changes to the PAF may not be in the best interests of some (the update check) and that he's morally grey are beside the greater point that to have a viable software ecosystem, updates have to be timely.

But by the PortableApps project, I mean the platform (and installer and format) itself. The core stuff. Which hasn't been updated since July. And it's great, don't get me wrong. But the feature that everybody's been asking about (categories) is pushed back yet again. The code's been written, it's just never good enough, and people are left waiting. Even people who aren't as interested in the categories get annoyed, because the code's been there since 2007 or 2008, it's the #1 request, and you'd think something would be put out just to shut everybody up. Kind of like a game you might have heard about called "Duke Nukem Forever", the epitome of vaporware, a game whose name is a big joke. Except now 3D Realms has sold the IP to 2K, who made Bioshock and Borderlands, and probably a crapload of other games. 3D Realms hasn't put out a product in years and years. Have they put out a single game this past decade? No, they've been writing, scrapping, and rewriting DNF. And now that it's in 2K's capable hands, I just have to ask, will people be playing Duke Nukem Forever before they have categories in PortableApps? Pretty much any tech deadline that DNF beats is going to replace it, to an extent, as the joke, and that's not the nicest way to put it, but it does ring true.

But even if it does get released, even if PortableApps 2.0 Final happens by the end of the year, and it's Duke Nukem Forever, it's Chinese Democracy (the Guns n' Roses album that took 15 years to finish)... is it gonna matter? My wife and I got two computers, each the size of a deck of cards, for $100 (well, $100 after rebates and incentives... more like $275 before, but that still ain't bad). They can't burn CDs/DVDs, they're not so good for playing games, or videos, but they can, with limitations... but for going online, they're fine. Office stuff is okay, too, if you don't mind typing on either the screen or the slide-out keyboard. And not everybody has a smartphone now, but at those prices, everyone's gonna have them in a couple years. Just like how you CAN get a CD-ROM drive, but for about the same price you can get a DVD burner. Smartphones (specifically Android phones) are gonna be the new dirt-cheap generic flip phone you get for free with a 2-year contract. And this dual-core super-smartphone I hear is coming out next year, and the iPhone, and similar offerings from Microsoft, RIM, and Palm will be the premiums.

So, you guys might still be all into it (developers, I mean), but to use another analogy, it's like that Genesis game that came out in 2008 (on an actual Sega Genesis cartridge!). Yeah, it's awesome that it was done, but since the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, and your PC all lack the Sega Genesis cartridge slot, it's kinda useless, unless you have an old Genesis (or get one on eBay).

I really didn't mean to come off as negative, but there's really only one side of the coin. Which is why I wrote that last post, and decided against it. I just feel like PortableApps is either looking at the end of a road, or a ramp in front of a shark. I suppose if it were ported to a language for which there are free and open IDEs, we'd see more forks and more frequent releases, but something tells me the $1500 software package was chosen to prevent that, for whatever reason. (And let's not kid ourselves, a lot of great software is written with free development software.)

As for the replies:

Pyromaniac"(awaiting updated approval from Oracle)" makes me kinda scared... what if they say no? Sad I'm sure Sun would have already responded by now.

I'm pretty sure Oracle IS saying no by stalling. I can't guess as to their reasons, but maybe it's time to look at one of the pure-FOSS offshoots. Maybe re-brand it as "PortableOffice". What can they do? It's open source. Take their name off it, it's the same with Firefox.

computerfreakerI don't think PortableApps is going to die anytime soon. There most definitely is no need to turn to "the other site", especially when legit, properly-portable, updates may be just around the corner.

Of course not, and I wanted to quote this to reiterate this point. While "the other site" has its uses, it's just sad that he's got Firefox and VLC out the day the official apps come out and we're waiting. Actually my Firefox updated itself, that setting keeps resetting itself. I still updated it to keep the launcher straight.

solanusThe point behind the 2.x Installer, Launcher, etc, is to have a consistent and simple system to portablize apps.
Previous apps were done somewhat inconsistently, often with devs copying NSIS code from other apps.
The new way, once the bugs are worked out, will allow developers to turn around updates much faster. The delay right now is that there are still some bugs in the Installer, and developers are waiting for that to be fixed rather than updating the apps.

That's contradictory and counterproductive. The old system would be seen as better if one of these Firefox updates were actually important. I'm not convinced they all are.

Also, there shouldn't be a system at all to portablize apps. There should be an app, and then a plugin that ties that app to a system. The app should be portable to start with. And since they're open source, it seems like it would be doable to make an app natively portable, as opposed to using a launcher to hack everything together to make it emulate portability.

DarkbeeI have to say Nathan this post seems somewhat out of character from your normally well-reasoned, sometimes opinionated but logical rhetoric. To be quite frank, this seems more like the rant of a temper-tantrum-flamist. We get the frustration, but I've seen projects die and this one is a long way from dying. I don't think it's time to abandon ship just yet. Bad day at the open office?

Out of character, yes... that's a pretty insightful comment. As is the last one. "Temper-tantrum-flamist" is a bit off, though. The category thing and the app delay were minor annoyances until I heard Duke Nukem Forever was coming out. That messed with my perspective a bit.

In closing, I really meant no offense, but spoke my mind and it came out kinda bad. In balancing I could note that in the 2-3 years I've been posting here, I never contributed an app, which is something I meant to do, when it was still relevant to me. Or donated, regrettably, but I have kept the site whitelisted in my ad blocker, so I've contributed to the ad revenue, I suppose. Still, that puts me below those who have given something, and farther below those who actually contribute. I have casually tested apps, and tried to offer relevant tech discussion, which I suppose is something. Not formally leaving, but definitely won't be around as much, though I will wish the best of luck to those of you for whom specifically-portable software is still relevant.