Hey John,
I dont know if you knew this but there was a referance to www.portableapps.com in the most recent edition of Computer Shopper (May 2006 I think). As it is Britains biggest selling computer mag its sure to drive some more traffic over here. It was mentioned in a review of a U3 drive and the reviewer said that if you could get the software you wanted from www.portableapps.com then you could save yourselft a lot of money!
Steve
Thanks for the heads-up, Steve. I didn't know about the article. I found it on their website here: Memorex Mini TravelDrive U3 512MB
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
No problem, I dont know what he meant my a lack of seamless install, I might mail him about that!
Yours
Steve Lamerton
Developer Profile Sync & PortaLog
"Lack of seamless install" basically means that you have to unzip (and sometimes, configure using the .ini file) things yourself to get the applications to work. With U3, it's all automatic. You download the app, install it, and it's ready to go--just like a normal local application. For John's applications, there's no installer. You have to do it yourself.
In the context of U3, "seamless" basically means "part of the U3 experience." John's applications are more hackish in that sense... unzipping whole applications and running them from a standard USB key is not part of the normal experience of using one.
If I lost you there, let me just put it this way: in this day and age, users expect a dedicated installation program. Manually unzipping applications to install them is not considered "seamless" and probably never will be.
So we should write an NSIS installer for NSIS launchers?
~nm35 {blog} {personal space}
How about an installer for an installer for the installer?
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Haha. What I meant was something like PStart, where it has a dedicated installer that guides you through the process step-by-step (not that there's much to the process). I imagine that's what the reviewer was looking for. Don't get me wrong here... I don't personally need a user-friendly installer for your apps, John; just that most novices are scared away by zip utilities. I can say this from experience.