Happy New Year 2011! New Year, 32 New Apps, New Platform Soon!

and thank you very much for the Season's gifts you were presenting us.
PortableApps.com was a daily fun to browse through and I was really deeply impressed about the awesome works you all did.

Thanks a lot for it - and a very Happy New Year:

Greetz from Switzerland

And a big "thank you" for the awesome products and work you put into PortableApps...

Happy New Year to everyone at PA.c! I can't thank you enough for the work you guys do!

You forgot to list Marble.

EDIT: I counted 30, I think you're missing another one too.

EDIT 2: Synkron is the other app you're missing.

You guys at Portable apps are the greatest and the last 32 days of new apps have made everyday exciting. Thank you for all that you have done!!

... and thank you for all of this, that's a huge amount of work.
Good luck

Well, I guess I can't say that you never release apps anymore. I remember back when perfectly ready apps in Pre-Release would just be forgotten and die out. And now you've nearly doubled greatly expanded your app count in a month. Who knows. Maybe menu 2.0 will finally come this month.

Also, I doubt anyone even remembers who the heck I am, but I got a new flashdrive and will be hanging around the site a bit more often. If the dev-test app list needs any updating, you know who to call.

Anyways, have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, New New Year, Cool Kwanzaa, or, just a Nice Holiday Season.

-Stevoisiak

Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy

have you sort out the GUI bits on adding aps for the next beta??
(this would be the button for the /MODE=ADD switch for the updater)

Surely it's now; 'Appy New Year!

I stumbled onto this site using RSS Owl, to give credit where it's due.
Went through the hassle to register simply to make this comment, good site and Regshot is one of the best S.Wares for intermediate n00bs.
and to add, it would be nice if Daphne v1.47 would kill high priority processes like anti-spyware, for instance Avast and it's ilk. Sometimes it is needed to stop them to run specific programs, or to install certain softwares. In the instance of Avast it is necessary to open several panels and click on stop and confirm, a tedious process. (I know, *Windows* processes) just sayin'...
keep up the good work, this is both useful and educational. and it should go without saying, it is nice to visit a site that isn't all caught up in promotion.

All at PortableApps

Just a note of thanks, I have used you suite for a couple of years and the additional applications that have been added just make my life simple.

Working in IT the option to carry the suit of tools around in invaluable to me and my fellow professionals (to whom I recommend your tools at every opportunity)

And the only update I ever truly wanted was the automatic application update, which we now have !!. Any other applications you add that I find use full are a bonus.

I'm sure I speak for the vast majority of your users, please accept this as a big Thank you, and keep up the good work !!

Hobbit182

(The title is a reference to Merry Gear Solid 2, which could be a Portable App.)

Can't wait for the "category" system (I could hide games in a category called "office", if they can be collapsable) and I can't wait for PAPlatform 2.0.

My English isn't great because I'm French !

Yeah!
I am very happy to know the platform 2.0 will come later this month. It has evolved greatly since the first versions!
Thanks for bringing us the best of portable applications! Your work, John, and the work of everyone who helped (and help) you with these applications, is awesome! Keep it up!

Happy new year to all!

As the friend above: My English isn't great because I'm French Brazilian!

And unfortunately, some people could say "My English isn't great because I'm a dumb American". Being an American, in those cases I just hope they don't make us look bad.

so as valve time converges with real time should i worry about app time being distorted? (it seems our beta is being delayed another long while so 2.0 in january... a dream is sad to wake from)

Since it has always been my understanding and/or impression that "few days" means anywhere from maybe 3 or 4 days and certainly not any more than 1 week, if that, I thought I would ask what John means by a "few days".

In light of John's news post on July 16, 2010 saying "From this point forward, we'll be releasing a new beta every week or two until we hit 2.0 final." and now having had almost 6 months pass without any Platform release of any kind, I thought I would ask about what was meant by this post saying there would be both a stable and beta release in the next few days.

I don't feel like I can put a lot of stock in John's "promises" (granted, John didn't actually promise anything) and don't want to be too hopeful.

I should note that since the July 16 post, I am well aware of the fact that problems were discovered that had to be dealt with. Despite that, I certainly never had the impression that the problems were so severe that there could be no beta or any other type of release for months on end.

I know you guys are trying very hard to produce awesome software, but I'm not expecting perfection, especially with beta software. I would rather see small, regular updates chipping away at bugs (and adding features) than see nothing for months on end and talk of coming releases. And yes, I think a news post should have been made after the July 16 post at some point acknowledging where things stood and what the PortableApps staff responsible for the Platform were thinking since no beta releases were forthcoming.

I used the apps on your site when my laptop stopped working for a short time to edit word documents and use surf the internet. I was able to continue working on another computer until I fixed my laptop.

i agree that everyone loves updates on how things are going, knowing when something isn't coming soon is better then waiting. some things that i am suggesting without any real knowledge about the work put into portable apps (specifically) is a bug/feature list like bugzilla. we could see the progress as well as specific problems that are occurring. now things like that are best when you can get fast and accurate bug reports after each change so of course im suggesting daily builds or the such (alpha builds maybe? but unstable and clearly tester builds...) and a bug report system built in (or not, a bug report isn't that hard to write) there are lots of other suggestions i have for this but i understand how difficult it is to add features to something while fixing breakages in other areas and the such, so perhaps having a system where we can submit code for portable apps platform? they could all be checked by you for consideration (of quality and, compatibility, anything at all really...) and you could include anything useful. i'm just a 17 year old and as much as i know i understand there is more i don't. but i'd love to help in anyway i can also - a linux build? i think expanding the platform to work in virtually every computer would be a nice accomplishment. feel free to talk to me if i can help at all or if anything i said is do able..

First off, a huge thanks to John & the team for all their great work!

As much as I love all the portable apps, the App Directory page drives me nuts! I'm hoping it improves with the planned website updates & I have some suggestions for the Directory page layout. Is it too late for that & is there some place in particular that you're collecting such ideas? If not, I'll gladly start a new thread on that topic.

You guys have been kicking butt this season with all the apps and updates! Keep it up!

Why can't I rename my apps in the menu? Permanently I mean. If I rename an app (mostly I remove the suffix 'portable') and refresh icons it goes back to it's original name. This only happens with any of the new releases from the 32 apps 'to date'

Apologies....
I have the latest PAP version which i believe is 2b5. And i rename using the platform rename option. I can rename apps but they change back on refresh or restart of menu.

Thanks

Scott

Hi, John.

Rather than reply to your last comment in this thread where you said "Did you miss the whole thing about illness and death?", I thought I would post my reply to the main trunk of the thread.

Let me start off by saying that my "gripe" isn't at all with the quality of work coming from PortableApps. Not at all. I would bet the vast majority of people that have used PortableApps stuff, especially in the last couple of years, would agree that the quality of work has been quite good.

My issue is purely with communication, especially involving time-lines. Here are a few comments & thoughts in no particular order...

1.
Quit making excuses. Take personal responsibility for what you have said. One of the biggest problems in America is society making excuses for people's actions and not encouraging them to take personal responsibility for their actions. Nobody is making you continue to write comments such as "any day", "in the next few days", "shortly", etc. I am NOT trivializing illness and death, but that is life. Life is challenging for everyone and it has some real highs and some lows. Quit just lightly throwing out these time-lines that don't allow yourself any wiggle room.

2.
The Boy Who Cried Wolf. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/The_Boy_Who_Cried_Wolf After a while, why should I or anyone pay one bit of attention to any of your time-lines when you have created a bad reputation of saying stuff lately that doesn't come true at all. I don't think you are willfully lying, but are being careless with what you say. I don't think this is the type of reputation you desire.

Let me give an example, for almost 5 months at the top of PortableApps.com, anyone that visited the site saw the July 16, 2010 post "PortableApps.com Platform 2.0 Beta 5 Released For Testing" (https://portableapps.com/news/2010-07-17_-_portableapps.com_platform_2.0...). In this post, you said "From this point forward, we'll be releasing a new beta every week or two until we hit 2.0 final." By reading through the comments, it became clear there were some problems, but as far as I know, you never ever made any type of official post on the main page addressing the delay or anything about it. Yet, there sat for months the post above right on the top of the PortableApps.com home page. Maybe you were regularly updating progress in the forums, but I don't have the time to hunt and peck around the forums to find nuggets of information. Time or not, many people simply wouldn't ever run across the nuggets of information anyway.

To make matters worse, the first official post to address status and/or time-lines was the January 1, 2011 post "Happy New Year 2011! New Year, 32 New Apps, New Platform Soon!" (https://portableapps.com/news/2011-01-01_-_happy_new_year). With this post and in the comments, you have now said in reference to the coming beta and/or stable Platform "any day now", "this week", "in the next few days", and "shortly". I think I speak for everyone in that all of these phrases you have used would lead one to think a few days and certainly not any more than 1 week.

Please byte your tongue and refrain from lightly using these words. It is at the point now of "crying wolf".

3.
Please under-promise and over-deliver. Don't over-promise and under-deliver, which is absolutely what you have done the last few months, especially when it comes to your release time-lines. I am all for simply promising and delivering, but that of course is not always easy to do. Therefore, I believe your best approach is to under-promise and over-deliver. It is always tempting to talk about the great things coming, but it is in your best interest to hold back a bit and under-promise.

4.
Please allow yourself some time each week to unplug a bit and try not to think about PortableApps. Ideally you could take the weekend off, but even if you could manage to take off 1 day per week or 1 day every couple of weeks, the time off and rest (mentally at least) will help in the long run.

All of that said, I want the best for you and for PortableApps as well as simply wanting you to do what you say you will do.

I hope that all makes sense.

-Energy

As someone who has personally given $100 twice via PayPal to PortableApps I can say with absolute certainty I will not be making any future donations unless I can start believing the promises made here again..

While I fully understand that John contributes his time of his own free will here, the expectation that promises made be fulfilled is something to be held accountable for, regardless of "illness and death" in one's personal life.

If you must take time away from putting out the PortableApps platform, then who is presenting all these other new apps on a daily basis? And if it's not you John then why can't THEY at least insure your promises are fulfilled when you say "a few days"?

And given the beta has been around this long, I find it next to impossible (as a programmer myself) to comprehend how it would take more than a single afternoon to clean up some code and compile it and throw it out on the PortableApps home page...

I've seen this exact same scenario with a few "open source web design" sites in which the author of the site give a mile long list of why they can't get simple tasks done, even when the bulk of the content on their site is contributed by others. It just screams of "attention seeker."

I love PortableApps and have made a number of them myself, but I've completely lost all faith in any mention of timeframes given here.

So I'll donate my money to other projects where I know I can trust them when they say "a few days."

Only last thing I can say to all this is - after you commented on having personal issues John, why then did you not take the couple minutes necessary to simply change the comment on your home page to "to be announced" at least?

With all of the Days of App-Ness, I'm having a very difficult time caring about a few delays. You can be as late you need to be, John. This more than makes up for it.

I'm so glad I found this site. Thank you for all the hard work you guys do! I'm looking forward to the new beta but of course, take your time.

Steve

Now I feel bad for John, especially with that dude (dont know his nick, not that i dont care i just didnt look) that keeps complaining about how it has not been released the next version of the platform yet. All I have to say is one thing to Mr. Complainer Dude: Try being one guy, go through what John has gone through, and have the time to complete a program that he never actually promised a release date for (or did he, i honestly dont know).

John,
Was wondering what the hold up is on the release of the new features for the Menu? I was looking around yesterday and found [link to illegal software removed. this package is mostly just our apps repackaged without permission from publishers. - mod JTH]
I must say firstly that I am a committed PortableApps.com user and have been from the early days! But you really should look at that thingy as it has many of the functions we are waiting for. From the start the apps are arranged in categories....

Other than the category issue (which is more important as you continue to add more and more GREAT apps!!!) I would like to see PortableApps.com be able to close the apps that were auto started by the Menu.
Some dream items would be:
1. Start up (and closing) scripts; eg PortableApps.com menu remembers which PCs are used; so that for example... on trusted PCs it could load quicker, but on other PCs it would first run an AV scan. Or snapshot of the Reg so that on exit it cleans up and puts PC back to prev. state.
2. The ability to specify where directories are. So if I need to use more than one USB pen, I can tell the Menu (one 1 USB) that the Documents folders are stored on second USB. (Another reason this would be good is: My USB encrypted w/ Truecrypt. On inserting the USB I have a Bat file that loads Truecrypt, then PortableApps and starts ClamWin. But that means the encrypted USB is accessed before the AV scan (Ie I have to type in password and keyfiles before I can check if local PC has problems). I would prefer to have the Bat file first scan the host PC's memory then load the encrypted volume. To do this, I would either need to keep 2 copies of Clamwin (one on non-encrypted, the other on the encrypted volumes) or Be able to tell Menu that some apps are on Drive x and some on Y...

Thank you

Josh

Dude, congratulations on the great work!
I'm waiting for the new platform.
you guys are awesome!
Congratulations yourself!

I get that Sourceforge HAD issues, but all your new releases are bouncing through from other hosts, no problem. so why can't you fix the broken ones? At least temporarily... Why not just bounce the Juice one instead of leaving it broken?