Hi can anyone point me towards any FAQ or guidance on creating a custom version of portable apps/Portable apps suite. I would like to create a version for teachers and students that could possibly be branded to reflect http://opensourceschools.org.uk
The only related thread I have found so far is https://portableapps.com/node/14604 which talks about mozilla redistribution rights.
Any advice/guidance gratefully received.
Tim
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Drop a note to the business development address on the contact page. There are specific guidelines that must be followed for most software.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
If you'd like to partner with John to create a specific branded version, here's the contact info:
https://portableapps.com/about/contact#business
One thing you need to remember is that the current menu has the branding compiled into the executable. Changing the brand would create a fork of the menu, so you'd have to make sure that it's synchronized with the main releases of the menu. It's not a giant issue, since the stable releases of the menu tend to take a long time, but you may want to wait until the upcoming release of v2.0.
An alternative to custom branding is to create a custom theme. The menu would still have the PortableApps.com brand, but you could use the space in the lower right to put your logo, like this:
Example Picture (Fixed Link: Thanks Chris)
I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.
Using a custom theme is a very clever appoach.
Ed
The portableapps.com stuff is supposedly open source - so you can just go right ahead and do what you like with it as long as you rip out all the (trademarked, copyrighted, etc) branding and replace it with your own.
Be prepared to be accused of "stealing" though, even though the whole point of open source is to allow you to do this, even if you want to sell it as part of a business venture!
You're quite free to take the platform and recompile it without our stuff, rebrand it and sell it if you'd like as long as your comply with the GPL and don't claim you wrote it. Anyone accusing you of stealing in that case simply doesn't understand the GPL.
Many of the apps, however, can't be bundled in another suite (trademarks/names intact) packaged by someone else without express consent from their publishers. This includes open source apps like Firefox, Thunderbird, Sunbird, Songbird, OpenOffice.org, etc. due to the trademarks involved.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
By the tone of the comment, it seems like you're saying you can take out all the branding/trademarks and you could also leave it. This isn't the exact case, you absolutely have to take it out if you want to redistribute.
You can redistribute portableapps with no changes so that portableapps still shows up at the top and the bottom. You can even charge for the service of loading it onto the thumb drive as long as no changes have been made to the branding. If you do change the branding you have to take out all the applications like firefox.