We've just posted the Beta 5 of the upcoming 2.0 Platform (codename: Leo) release for testers and translators. The main purpose of Beta 5 was to debut the PortableApps.com Updater so you can keep all your software up to date, start testing our brand new theming engine (with 32 themes built-in) so you can make the menu look the way you want it to, and greatly improve multilingual support so you can use any language you want wherever you want. This latest beta represents a large behind-the-scenes effort to upgrade many of the underpinnings of the PortableApps.com Platform on the road to 2.0. So, let's get on to what's new...
PortableApps.com Updater - Keep All Your Apps Up To Date
One of the biggest new features is the first public test of the PortableApps.com Updater. The updater can track all your apps and ensure you're running the latest release. It can download and automatically install any apps that are out of date including the PortableApps.com Platform itself. For apps available in multiple language packs (Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice.org, etc) it will download the appropriate language pack based on the language you have the PortableApps.com Platform set to. Just click Manage Apps - Check For Updates! Check out the updater in action (click for larger versions):
New Theming Engine - Multiple Colors and Images, 32 Themes Included
We've also debuted a first look at our new theming engine. The theming engine combines a powerful colormixing system allowing themers and users to easily select a menu look they like. We're still using the old-style theme selector until the Options window debuts in Beta 6, but our two built-in themes (Default White and Dark) are included with 14 colors each as well as a Rainbow and Texture theme in both White and Dark to show what's possible with the new engine. Here are some examples of the new theme sets (click for larger versions):
Full Unicode Support - Use Your Favorite Language On Every PC
Another big feature we're debuting is full Unicode support. This means we can add support for languages like Serbian and Vietnamese; and that we can support running any language even if it is different from the language Windows is set to. That means that if you like your apps in Japanese, you can set the platform to Japanese even on an English Windows PC. Here are screenshots of the menu running in Japanese, Korean, Arabic and Simplified Chinese, all on a standard Windows 7 English PC (click for larger versions):
The Road To 2.0
From this point forward, we'll be releasing a new beta every week or two until we hit 2.0 final. Upcoming features include those we announced in the 2.0 Preview including the full theme switcher, improved options screen, file associations, full category/folder support with smart app organization and lots more. Once you're on 2.0 Beta 5, you can just check for new versions and you'll know as soon as Beta 6 is available for you.
Download The Beta Today
You can download the new test version from the PortableApps.com Platform 2.0 Beta 5 forum topic. Get it today!
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Comments
Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!
Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!
Taskbar Icon in Windows 7
1st Download yeah!!!
I removed the rest of this comment so I will say something productive so it does not seem like a silly comment.
WELL DONE JOHN!!!
WOW!
I was awake for release!
Glad the updater got finished, expecially with the ability to update itself as well as the PA platform, checking the site every 6-12 hours is a thing of the past!
Bummer!!
I thought to see the categories and the new options and theme dialog after installing the new beta!
I never saw any use in the updater and stil don't.
So I keep on waiting and went back to Mod34!
It will all happen in time. I
It will all happen in time. I think it will happen with Beta 6, (That's the impression John gave me on the IRC).
Update
Update is a very crucial feature which was long needed.
Every sane OS or program updates itself, why would PortableApps not?
Categories will be another cool feature, but no match to update.
Some applications do not update well, though.
I had problems with VLC and Chrome, so I had to manually update.
Awesome!
Hey John T Haller, this is great!
I like some of the new ideas such as the app updater.
Question however, the aero theme, and the 'all programs' feature; will they be implemented in the beta 6 release?
Thanks,
The PC Guy.
Both Soon
We'll be debuting them in the next beta or two. The aero theme was left out at the last minute due to a few bugs on non-aero OSes. The folders and smart program organization are nearly complete, but we didn't want to release them 1/2 done and then have users have to re-organize again later if they made custom changes. We've already been working on all three (aero, folders, smart app sorting) above even what we showed in the last 2.0 preview screenshots.
Will there be
Will there be a place to store/add/etc themes and have them on the options menu all the time?
Yup
If you check out the 2.0 preview, it has an in-progress look at the new theming selection page. You can add and remove as many as you'd like.
Thank you and
Thank you and everyone who have been hard at it
Great
We all waited for this a long time!
Thanks for all your late night (and day!) work John!
One question: we never had beta releases advertised on the main page! As you said here, its not intended for largescale deployments and imho putting it on the main page IS a large scale deployment. You still have to go dig in the forums and its not on the Suite page but still...
Beta
Beta means testing. It means it shouldn't be put on drives and sold or deployed in a company. That's what I was saying.
ok
something else:
The gold theme looks a little too green imho.
Not final
All the colors aren't quite final. You can try tweaking it yourself if you'd like
Portableapps ...
...the best tool ever!!!
I am looking forward for the next release.
NewApp
Whats the NewApp.ini for?
Not Yet Used
It's not yet used. It's a backup method of the installers and platform communicating when other methods fail.
Hi, ... I downloaded the Beta
Hi, ...
I downloaded the Beta 5, ...
I see in the about = Version 2.0 Beta 5 Pre 2.
What is "Pre 2" ?
I use the French translation, but it remain some English word.
Then how and when i can help to improve the translation of the French language ?
Italian Language
Hi Everyone!!
Also in Italian language some words are in english
tnx for the Portable Apps platform!!!!
I Love it!
Hello i've change the italian
Hello
i've change the italian Menu translation file...
in
[FORM_MAIN]
..
MENU_OPTIONS_UPDATE=Controlla Aggiornamenti
I need to know how change Theme Color Name because some are in english and some in italian.
Thanks
Non-PA apps
Apologies if this is discussed elsewhere but are there any thoughts on the updater identifying/highlighting apps within the PortableApps directory that are not from this site? For example I have a Portable version of the Iron browser (modified Chrome) from their own site that I have dropped into the PortableApps directory. The launcher can display and launch it no problem and presumably the Updater ignores it. Now I am not asking for the Updater to support externally hosted Apps BUT could the Updater perhaps notify that certain Apps are not supported and therefore not checked? I have built quite a collection of Apps and lose track sometimes where they come from. With the updater I will become likely even more disconnected from where Apps originated.
This is not a crucial feature by any means but would give just a little bit more wow.
Not that I am not already wowed by the updater in the first place!
Non-PA apps
Just an idea, without debating on the need/feasibility of suggested improvements to the updater: I have added "(non-PA)" to names of all "external" apps I have on my menu using the right-click Rename option.
Non-PA apps
Three years I can't believe I never thought of that!
You are a genius...
Or I am an idiot.
Best we dont answer that
Asterisk
Why not just an asterisk? It's less distracting and you'll still know what it means
File Hippo
Try FileHippo: http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/
They have a portable version and you can change the settings to scan custom folders. I set it to scan my portable drive and then I can find updates to a lot of my non PA apps. It also scans my computer too.
PA 2.0 beta
This is just great! I can now delete all previous apps installers as PA can do it.
Thanks a lot!
German translation
Hi John,
great! 2.0 seems to be on a good way.
Just a proposal. Maybe we could translate "Manage Apps" to German.
I would recommend to use
Apps verwalten
or
Verwaltung
Looking forward to see all the new features soon!
The upateder will be quite usefull.
Will it pop up if a new update is available?
Kind regards
PortableUser2009
hi I like your proposal, in
hi
I like your proposal,
in Italian will be "Gestione Apps"
Kind Regards
Coming
We haven't done any translations of the newest strings like Manage Apps yet and others haven't even been added to the localizer. You can add some to the locale file yourself (Manage Apps will work) and they will show up. We'll be putting out a localization call to the community with Beta 6 in the next week or so.
Ok Thanks!
Ok
Thanks!
Hi, ... Ok, ... Thanks
Hi, ...
Ok, ... Thanks
Hello,
Hello,
just following to the PortableUser2009 and trying to help in languages.
"Manage Apps"can be translated in Latvian as
Pārvaldīt programmas
or
Pārvaldīt aplikācijas
Best regards,
32.pauls
a small suggestion re: folder names ...
It would be great if the "Documents" folder in the platform could be renamed to "PortableDocs" (to not only be consistent with the Apps folder, but) to avoid confusion with the various other document folders on most systems. Rather than hard-coding the filename, an optional path entry in the .ini file would be able to rename it "transparently".
To date, I've only been able to use the "Explore" to get to my portable docs since I copy my whole portable drive to c:\PortableDrive which then contains c:\PortableDrive\PortableDocs, etc.
and while we're at it ...
It would also be wonderful if the Music, Pictures & Video folders could be optionally be suppressed in the platform menu. (I only use PortableDocs.)
True/false .ini entries for each folder would do it, or perhaps explicit foldernames could be used to allow creating your own folder sub-structure.
I totally agry with you! I
I totally agry with you!
I rarely use the default shortcut... I'll be happy if i could use my custom ones
Road to 2.0 Timeline
John,
thank you for just saying you'll release a new beta every week or two until you hit 2.0 final.
I think this is a much better approach for us and you and doesn't put you guys nearly on the spot as much.
Keep up the great work, but please get some sleep today...
-Energy
portableapps.ico is missing!
This icon seems to be missing from Beta 5.
.\PortableApps.com\App\DefaultData\FolderIcons\portableapps.ico
-- Amal
Amal, It is
Amal,
It is under:
".\App\Graphics\appicons"
It is named 'Portableapps.com.ico'.
Shane Thompson
On my understand the icon of
On my understand the icon of Apps folder missing on the folder
X:\PortableApps\PortableApps.com\App\DefaultData\FolderIcons\portableapps.ico
The :\PortableApps\PortableApps.com\App\Graphics\appicons\Graphics\appicons ins't the folder icon, but the application icon.
I just copied the file portableapps.ico from a backup of my old version on my computer.
RE: portableapps.ico is missing!
It's been renamed to .\PortableApps.com\App\DefaultData\FolderIcons\explore.ico
Thanks, this it great
Thanks, this is great, I love it. Keep up the good work. Since this is a beta, I think I may have found a small bug. The updater wants to update my Thunderbird to 3.1. I am already running 3.1 but the menu says its version 2.0.0.12. I guess its a bug, ever small, but I thought you might like to know. Or it could just be me.
Update It
Most likely, you've let Thunderbird update itself since 2.0.0.12. So the portable package is still this older version. Though Thunderbird is up to date, you haven't gotten any of the updates for the launcher or package format (including update icon for the menu, updated splash, etc). You can let it update and it will update properly without affecting your data.
thanks
Ok this makes sense, as I have let Thunderbird update itself for a while now. If I use the PA update now, will I still keep all my settings, add on and what not? Thanks.
Of Course
All portable apps preserve your settings on updates and on re-installs.
Thanks for all your hard work
As per the subject. This is one of the best projects on the seen.
Text on updating screen
I tried the new update feature and it found and updated 4 apps. Very nice!
A very minor issue: During the update process, the text at the top of the box says:
"Please wait while PortableApps.com Updater is being installed." ???
Maybe: Please wait while your apps are being updated.
...
Is the font going to switch to something ClearType-capable at some point? Like, use Tahoma on XP and earlier, and Segoe UI on Vista and 7... I remember something being mentioned when 1.6 was released that the framework for that was in place, but it still doesn't seem to have made it in yet. Especially with the new more complex themes, the MS Sans Serif (I think...) text is becoming harder and harder to read.
Updater worked fantastic.
Had a ton of apps that needed updating and it worked flawlessly.
Still have to use a different menu system since I have so many apps (and I use them too)
Looking forward to Categories so I can just use this for everything.
Possible Bug
I think I found a bug. The Windows 7 taskbar icon is set to false but it pops up when I open the menu. It goes away when the menu closes. I just thought you would like to know.
Known Issue
This is a known issue due to the change to the latest development environment. It;s listed under known issues in the linked forum topic.
*.paf files after an update ?
Thanks for the good work, esp Update Manager is wonderful. Just curious about where does it save *.paf files for the update ? I want to get a backup of latest *.paf files, too.
Not Yet
It's being considered for a later release (settable via the upcoming Advanced Options tab). It would need to be on the same drive as the platform, but it should be doable.
Thanks for the reply. what
Thanks for the reply. what about now in beta 5? where r they ?
Deleted
They're downloaded to the PC's TEMP directory (rather than the drive, which would slow things down) and deleted as soon as the app is installed.
deleted?
I found them in my Internet Explorer cache (C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files) as already noted here.
The copies inside the temp folder are deleted correctly.
Way to reuse of files downloaded by Updater
Hello developers, I've suggested in comments to PortableApps.com Platform 2.0 Preview that it would be good for users and maintainers of the project to provide a way to reuse already downloaded updates.
Suppose you've updated one instance of portable apps and need to update a number of other instances. It will take a lot of traffic if all instances of Updater can only use fresh/uncached downloads.
For the purpose of saving traffic (and time) it will be great if Updaters can re-use downloaded files, and support specifying the download location of updates.
updated app cache
Caching *.paf.exe files was done by the standalone updater. Perhaps the best option is a standalone updater which enhances the basic one in the PortableApps Menu. Dial-up users, and those with data limited internet services, could use the cached files to update multiple devices. A standalone updater standard would allow the update process to grow features like any other application. An extended installer/ updater could create custom sets of applications without the overhead of the current prebuilt suites or the slowness of adding apps singly. An installer/ updater could also manage non-Paf standalone apps, eventually.
Please keep up the good work. I look forward to the future growth of the portable apps universe
Submitted by John T. Haller
Submitted by John T. Haller on July 16, 2010 - 4:39am
John, please, don't over exert yourself. You worked your guts off for the last two days and stayed up until 4:39 to meet the release date.
All of us appreciate your work but over doing it isn't needed.
Thanks.
Thanks
Thanks, I know. Actually it was 6am last night to fix the final bugs in the updater database
I'm gonna take a bit of a break this weekend before diving back in full-steam!
Glad to hear
Glad to hear
BTW, the new theming engine is ingenious!
Oi if we see you before 09:00 on the 19th....
you elsewhere for the weekend please
a request/suggestion for beta N could you have the update files download to an internal temp folder as an option???
Hi, ... A google version, try
Hi, ...
A google version, try to be downloaded from beta 5 portable updater, but failed with 404 error.
Google Chrome Portable (Dev) 6.0.466.0
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/portableapps/GoogleChromePortable_6.0.4...
it missing Dev
GoogleChromePortableDev_6.0.466.0_online.paf.exe
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/portableapps/GoogleChromePortableDev_6....
Fixed
Fixed in the updater database, thanks.
Wait
6.0.466.0 is already packaged in PAF and on the PA.c SourceForge account? It's not on the front page though...
Anyway, more to the point, no matter how many times I tried after finding out the new Chrome version was available, the updater still kept telling me all my apps were up to date (I had 6.0.453). Could this have anything to do with the fact that I have Chrome 6.0 installed in PortableApps/GoogleChromePortable instead of GoogleChromePortableDev? The updater shouldn't be relying on specific folder names, when the user is allowed to freely change them at install time.
correct
If you install through the platform, it will use the appropriate directory. The AppID is the directory name. You're welcome to move things about manually (as you can with launchers and INI files) but you lose on automation features. This may change in a later release of the updater, but for now, just keep things in their default directory and they'll work fine.
It wasn't announced on the homepage because it's a dev snapshot and not a normally supported app. It's just meant for messing about with, not using as an everyday app.
...
Might want to reduce the visibility of the directory selection option in the installer then. Lots of people run the installers manually (it's extra clicks to do it through the platform) and right now, directory selection is the first step of the process. However, if changing the name of the directory is going to break the updater (which, IMO, it should be reading appinfo.ini instead--what if I had two copies of Firefox installed, for instance?), then it should be moved to an optional "advanced" wizard page.
Also, 6.0.453 was announced on the front page. I can understand not wanting to announce dev releases, but at least be consistent.
Single Post
It was a single post announcing a new stable chrome version that had the dev one tacked onto it. We've never promoted a dev build solo nor will we. It's kinda like Firefox's nightly build downloader, except we have to manually update it every time. There's no reason to announce it widely as it's just a dev build, meant for testing random bits here and there, not for actual use. So it doesn't matter much if your copy is outdated.
The updater will probably remain as it is now. There are multiple reasons for this, most having to do with upcoming platform features and functionality, some of which will debut in the next beta.
Start Automatically
Hi,
first i have to say:
NICE work, i really like the improvements
and then i have a question:
would it be possible to also use the option "start automatically" on the portableapps-updater?
Coming
It will start automatically with the platform in a special silent mode (so it will only bug you if something is out of date, otherwise it will silently exit) in the next beta.
Will the updater be able to
Will the updater be able to update the portable apps program itself?
Yes
It's not fully automated in the current release (you still need to manually close it at one point in the update) but will be in the next.
2 words: Very Nice!!
Omg you rock well! I've been using these portable apps for some time now and the new platform works so well it's frightening. I'm so used to maintaining my own updates that when the platform updated 4 apps i overlooked,i was very impressed. Looks like im gonna have to make a new back up data dvd for all your apps again. Thank you for all of your hard work! I look forward to showing off the new beta to all my friends so that they can drool with envy...
Enjoying Platform 2.0 Beta 5
Excellent work thus far. The update feature works well. Looking forward to seeing Platform 2.0 come out of beta.
Backup not working
Have you changed anything in the backup option?
Is not working, after its on 95% or more it then says that proccess failed.
No Changes
It's actually the exact same backup utility from the last release. It hasn't even been recompiled.
Re: Backup problem
@rturo: You might want to check my post here. Maybe you fell into the same trap …
Beta is better
Very impressed with the whole package. Seems quite stable and entirely functional. Very good for a beta offering.
Password Protection
Will there be a password protection funtion für the whole USB drive? If I save my account data for my email account with thunderbird and lose my stick, i`ll have to change my account password
Wouldn't be necessary with a password protection
Would also be useful for other stuff like personal documents,...
Hardware
You need to purchase a drive with hardware password protection or password protection with encryption built in. We're partnering with manufacturers of such devices to sell them with the suite pre-loaded.
Integration
I was thinking that the integration of something like Lost, AutoMemScan, Convey and expresso (CAFE, CAFE mod, Portable File Associator) can be a good addition to the PortableApps Menu.
Those are just scripts, so I think that can be options inserted in the Menu... what do you think?
http://portable.cubegames.net/Lost.exe
https://portableapps.com/node/11553
https://portableapps.com/node/6157
https://portableapps.com/node/22019
Security considerations...
I still see at least two problems in the installer of this Platform.
After the installation:
1) It offers to launch the Platform.
It shouldn't do that. This is against all security measures that are build into Windows and are otherwise to be implemented by users in general.
I know the Platform is harmless, but some users are stupid enough to perform installations always under an administrator account. Therefore as an additional security measure an installer should never offer the possibility to run the freshly installed program (especially important for "lazy" users that always use administrator rights).
2) The installer offers to set portable homepage to Start.PortableApps.com
I didn't try it, but messing around with the homepage is against the concept of portability as far as I'm concerned. Besides that it's just not very polite to do it. People who like portable apps don't need a reminder and will return to the site anyway, I guess.
And I've found a few "real" problems too:
When used in combination with Taskbar Shuffle (http://www.freewebs.com/nerdcave/), the minimized Platform won't pop up anymore. Without Taskbar Shuffle it works fine.
It's probably not exactly a bug, but it's really annoying.
The updater gives an impressive list of updates. Amongst which Thunderbird 3.1.
However I do have Thunderbird 3.1 and I got that version from portableapps.com and didn't let it update automatically, so it is absolute the correct version. Here we have a "false-positive", I guess.
I've tried to update "the GIMP". Well the update succeeded, that is it took > 10 minutes to complete. I don't know what that updater is doing, but if I do it manually I just takes about a minute to complete.
B.T.W.: I do like the new Platform very much.
Windows vista/7 is unusable
Windows vista/7 is unusable w/out admin rights. The start.portableapps.com is a custom google search page, and it says "portable" homepage.
Non-Admin
As a portable installer, the platform is installed with current privs. Installers which require admin rights automatically ask and elevate using UAC. Portable installers require no such things.
The homepage change is made to your portable browser, hence the word 'portable'. It's only selectable if you have Firefox Portable currently installed in the platform (or if you are installing the suite which contains it). It makes no changes to the homepage setting on any local browser.
If the updater is offering Thunderbird 3.1 then the app you have installed to %PORTABLEAPPS%\ThunderbirdPortable is not 3.1 from here. It is probably an auto-upgrade. The version of the offered Thunderbird is 3.1 (3.1.0.0 package version). If your installed Thunderbird is less than 3.1.0.0 it will show up. If you mouse over it in your menu, you will probably see it is less than 3.1. Or you have more than one copy of it. Perhaps you installed it to ThunderbirdPortableTest previously?
The updater simply runs the installer in the background with the standard options, so it is no different from you installing the GIMP Portable yourself. The only reason it may be longer is if you had it installed as just English before and now it is installed as multilingual (it's about 3x the size so takes that much longer). Could you check if that is the case? If so, that's an installer bug we'll need to sort. Thanks.
Glad you like the platform
time
I updated an app and it took a whole lot longer that usually and I noticed I had gotten a very slow download from sourceforge (21kb per sec). I hit cance and it restarted the download, obviously using a different mirror because the download was done in 8 seconds.
I just wanted to let you guys know.
Happens
That will happen sometimes. Unfortunately, it's not something we can control. SF's mirror system is supposed to redirect you to a local fast mirror. But I built in the ability for the updater to recover from a first bad download automatically. Basically if the download is incomplete (bad md5), doesn't connect (network error, etc), or is slow and the user wants to cancel, it will automatically try again right away. It'll only do that once (so it's not a loop) but the occasional connection issue or incomplete download made it make sense to build that in
cool
the whole point of my post was to point people to that feature and to thank you for building it
All right, but....
...even the Platform is of course harmless, software should not encourage the user to start it in an administrator account. Anyway, not a problem at all of course, as we know PortableApps software is stable and good.
Concerning Thunderbird you're right.
When mousing over it in the menu, I get a balloon stating that it is the 3.1 RC2 version. I'm quite sure it isn't because I even have the installer from the site. But for some reason the updater seems to think it is the older version.
Anyway, I'll let the installer reinstall it. That should do no harm to the existing files and then the installer probably will be happy with it.
(Update: I did let the installer reinstall it and the updater does not list the program after that. The whole installation took a few minutes so I guess that's quite normal).
That problem with Gimp remains unsolved for now. I always install the multilingual version because I like it to be in Dutch. After that I delete the unwanted language files, but I do it always and the manual installer never has had any problem with it. So I still couldn't find why it took so long now.
The installer does not give much information. It only says that it is installing. I like the verbosity of the manual installers so I can see which file is worked upon. Is it possible to implement that somehow?
B.T.W.: somewhere else on this page I've found a message that says that extension management ("file association") is now part of the new menu. That would be great news because I now use a third party program to achieve this.
However I cannot find that function in the Platform. Can you elaborate on that please?
Coming
That was in a preview screenshot of 2.0 but isn't in a released beta yet. File extensions are coming.
GIMP was installed with the exact same options you normally use then. I'm sure it felt longer not seeing the installer to you, but it took just as long as it would if you manually installed it. Of note, GIMP changed the way they compile in the current point release from the last one, so the app itself IS quite a bit bigger than the last point release so will take proportionally longer to install. I'd forgotten that when I responded earlier.
There will be an option to have the installers display (read: not enter silent/auto mode) if that is your preference by the 2.0 final.
File association is already a part
John's already included file association into the new menu.
As for the others:
I don't know what Lost is, you just have a link to the exe - I don't like to DL exe files without some idea of what they are.
As for the other stuff, IMHO, I'd rather not see them integrated. Personally, I think that the menu should be as low-footprint as possible. It's just as easy to keep these as separate apps and set them to start automatically. That makes them function more or less like plug-ins, so people that don't want these dont' even need to install them.
I'm also afraid that the more complicated the menu becomes, the slower and slower the updates will be.
Also, these functions then can't be updated until the menu gets updated! And remember that the menu is coded in Delphi, which limit the number of people that can update the menu to, well, John. While if these functions are kept separate, then a far wider range of devs can code them.
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