Howdy All,
Just wanted to drop a quick status update in the forums to let everybody know where things are at. My friend who I'd mentioned before is recovering pretty well. He's gonna have some ongoing issues that will hopefully resolve themselves in a few months. The bell's palsy may require surgery. And the hearing in his left ear may never fully come back. But, he's in very good spirits. Up and walking around a bit more. Even gonna put in some part time days at the office. So, thanks again for the well-wishes to him. I've passed them on.
Now, as far as updates and stuff... as most folks have noticed, the update process has started. This began yesterday with ClamWin Portable 0.88.7 (a simple update to the latest version) and Audacity Portable 1.2.6 (which added in Vista compatibility, LAME integration and PAF packaging). Today, updated versions of Nvu Portable, Miranda IM Portable and VLC Media Player Portable will drop updating them all for Vista compatibility, the latest base versions and PAF packaging. I'll also be posting an updated beta of PortableApps Menu.
Following that, probably tomorrow, will be updated versions of Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice.org and FileZilla... along with an updated test version of the latest beta of Thunderbird. And I'll be posting the updated apps that I just hadn't gotten around to posting earlier as well.
Once the latest PortableApps Menu beta goes through a bit of testing, it will be packaged up with a Suite update and as a simple platform update (menu/backup/etc).
On the server side, things have been busy as well. I've updated Drupal (the CMS that runs this whole site) to 4.7.6 to address some newer security issues. I also trimmed down the .htaccess file significantly which buys us a bit more time on the server before we have to move to a split database/web server/image server setup due to load. I've got a side by side install of Drupal 5.0 up and running and am working on updating the PortableApps.com theme to make use of it. It has a bit better performance than 4.7.x, so I'd like to upgrade when I can.
I also implemented a rules-based and bayesian spam filtering system for new comments and forum nodes that will hopefully help cut down on the spam we saw last week. It requires a bit more than simply blocking an IP as these are automated systems that use open proxies all over the world to spam forums. So far, it's been working pretty well without many false positives. The ability to mark messages as spam will be given to our moderators (Ryan, Marko and Rob) this week.
I'll be continuing to set up additional translation pages for the leads to edit as well. The goal is to get the translations solid so that we can introduce multilingual versions of the platform and the big apps within the next month.
I'm also going to be bringing on the new downloads server this week hosted over at RackForce. This is in addition to out primary box hosted at RackSpace. This new server will be a downloads-only server and allow us to host select repackaged freeware apps... mainly the most popular ones or ones for which there isn't an open source equivalent. I can't name any names yet as I'm still in licensing chats with some of them... but as they're released, folks will be pleasantly surprised.
That's about it for now. I'll post more as I have it. Keep an eye on the homepage, RSS feed or tracker for the updated app announcements.
Regards,
John
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Good to hear!! I am happy that your friend is up and about and doing much better. I am also happy that things are starting to pick back up and hope all goes well with the server situations.
Keep up the good work boss!!
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you do or say will be exaggerated or mis-quoted and used against you.
For the updated Drupal could you add the FAQ plugin? It is nice and I bet a lot of people would look at it first before posting. Therefore, eliminating the wise cracks from requlars.
John,
I am curious on how you came up with the idea with having all of these applications be portable on a thumb drive??
I also have a second question...what is better USB flash drive or a USB portable hard drive. I have heard that with regular use that flash drives only last about 1yr and they cost more.....what's your thoughts on this??
and I also wanted to say thanks again....I now depend on my thumb drive more and more everyday....It keeps my life & my thumb drive more organized.
If you need a beta tester for new apps I would love to help out in any way possible.
Have you thought about approaching Google to make some of their apps portable such as Google Earth?
Pressure - It can turn a lump of coal into a flawless diamond, or an average person into a perfect basketcase
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Pressure - It can turn a lump of coal into a flawless diamond, or an average person into a perfect basketcase
This seems a little off topic but as far as the flash vs. hard drive question:
Flash drive: will eventually wear out depending on use/quality of drive (maybe 1 year, maybe 5), does cost more, much more rugged
Hard drive: won't wear out for same reasons (read/write cycles), will break much more easily (very sensitive to dropping, etc.), much cheaper GB for GB
flash vs. portabvle HDD, see
http://www.madhatt.com/~bahamut/PAFAQ.txt
Its Bahamut's first draft for an FAQ.
Putting some ---------- in your sig to separate it from the rest of your post would be good.
"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate
Glad to hear that your friend is doing better.
That's great that he's recovering well.
I doubt we will have to mark any as spam anyway.
----
Ryan McCue
Person 1: Oh my god. You will never believe what just happened.
Person 2: What?
Person 1: I can't remember, I've forgotten.
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
till now there hasn't been a lot, has it?
"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate
Thank god, John has got to it before I have
----
Ryan McCue
Person 1: Oh my god. You will never believe what just happened.
Person 2: What?
Person 1: I can't remember, I've forgotten.
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
I like how every time John posts one of these status updates the timeframes are never followed. But he's doing this for free and out of motivation so I'm totally fine with it.
why John never provides timeframes
And he does have motivation, the same motivation that everyone has
----
Ryan McCue
Person 1: Oh my god. You will never believe what just happened.
Person 2: What?
Person 1: I can't remember, I've forgotten.
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
haha
it's all good
From another free "community development" project I'm involved in, the best time frame to reference is "3-4 weeks." That's near enough in time that people are excited, but far enough out that they don't expect it immediately. Its gotten to be kinda an inside joke, I guess.....
---------------
Sic semper tyrannosauro.
-------------------
Sic semper tyrannosauro.
I think John actually does have a timeframe, though I've never seen it from him in print:
"When it's done"
Microshaft should follow his lead...
"I don't hate cats...as long as they stay on the freeway, where they belong."
- Brad Stine