Ok...I am not trying to sell anythig here...but I thought you guys might like to check out this MojoPac
I have been testing it in beta and it works pretty well. You can install most of your programs and it is not terribly slow. Unfortunately, it only works on Windows XP machines right now.
It is along the lines of indi but is here now...
btw, John yeah it's me the same tracon...love what you've done with the place
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Actually, I think it'll always be XP only. Until they add Vista support (if they can under the new security models). The virutalization method they're using won't work in Windows 95/98/Me or under Wine on Linux/Unix. And it might be difficult to get it working in Windows 2000. Odd that they have no pricing information available on their site and you have to sign up for an account before getting to their store, which is currently broken. Any idea if it works on guest/limited accounts... or does it require being logged in as an admin? (I know of someone else that was working on something like this, but it required admin privs) Interesting that it works with Office and Photoshop, though... even if it does only work with volume/enterprise licenses. Of course, for a home user, you'd need to purchase a second copy of each commercial application.
btw - Glad you could join us here, tracon
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
their site just went live this morning about 2 hours ago.
from their site:
"The next version of MojoPac we are working on in our labs already works with the latest available version of Vista. As soon as Vista becomes GA, Vista support will be available to all MojoPac users, so you can upgrade the MojoPac you have to include support for Vista
Windows XP (32-bit version ONLY)
* Home/Pro (sp1, sp2)
* Media Center Edition (2003, 2005)
* TabletPC
RAM: 256MB Minimum, 512MB recommended
USB 2.0
Access Privileges: MojoPac 1.0 requires Administrator Privilege. Limited Mode support will be introduced in MojoPac 2.0.
MojoPac today is for Windows only. Our plans for MAC and Linux support are top secret…
and pricing...How much does MojoPac cost?
You can try the product with no obligation for 30 days. If you decide to purchase MojoPac within the first month of the product release, there is a special introductory one time fee of just $29.99, with up to three additional licenses available for just $14.99 each. After the special introductory period the price changes to a one time fee of $49.99, with up to three additional licenses available for just $24.99 each"
I haven't had a chance to test the 1.0 yet (trying to find out if I have to redownload, reinstall and or pay for it)
actually it's not bad for what it does, it doesn't have the flexibility that your portableapps do...but I can load many programs that are not yet portable so it is a bit of a trade off
I think Indi will be a better option as it is supposed to be cross platform (flash based os I think) but I have been waiting for the beta since july and it seems to be no closer...
I have been lurking portableapps for a while and I use several of them on a daily basis. You have a very talented community here.
I'm not surprised about the administrator account requirement. I've heard from some devs that have worked with the big virtualization guys and it's still an issue on many levels. That does kinda limit the usefulness of this quite a bit. Although, if you were an admin-level account at home and at work and had volume licensing, this would be useful. But all net cafes and schools and most work environments use limited or guest accounts, so MojoPac simply wouldn't work any of those places. And it doesn't look like they're going to support guest accounts in the 2.0 release either, so no net cafe support.
Any interest in doing some beta testing here?
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
John,
I don't have as much time as I used to (real world gets in the way doesn't it?) but I would love to help out.
tracon
And the fine print sez....
With your purchase price you will receive all updates to that version, up to 1.XXX.
You'll have to purchase 2.0 with admin rights when it is released.
Presumably at a discount for 1.XXX owners.
And shouldn't beta be 0.XXX. Whats up with selling a Beta product?
Not another Libertà competitor.
----
R McCue
PortaBlog Home and My Website
And before anyone complains about the grammar, I'm so jetlagged that my
hands aren't even in the same time zone...
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
I think Moka5 (http://www.moka5.com) has more flexability and free.
virtualization at its best!
and all it is a pretty front end to vmware player. It will actually install vmware player to the pc you are using but it will be imbedded within the moka5 program. So, when a livepc is started, vmware player starts.
This means, that this will never be able to be used on a system, you do not have admin rights to. As vmware player needs admin rights to install it virtualization drivers.
This was cursory glance, and I am not sure I will take a closer look, but maybe.
***********************************
Deuce {The Core}{Dev Blog}
Portable Software: Just the beginning.
Deuce
Portable Software: Just the beginning.
looks like mojopac, moka5 and possibly others is a trend where the OS, Apps, and data are completely portable.
Maybe the only thing required in the future is a PC with usb/firewire, monitor, keyboard, mouse, network/internet and enough horse power.
So, just plug in the usb drive, power on the pc, off you go.
I still think that Indi (see link above) may have all these beat if it ever gets released.
It is flash based, cross platform and it would seem could be run without admin rights.
Of course, their business model has changed at least once since i started looking at it and the last communication I had with the company was "new beta end of September..."
we'll see
The Mercury News had an article on Mojopac last weekend. Since you can't run Mojopac without admin rights I am wondering what all the excitement is about? It seems to me that Firefox, Thunderbird and Abiword would cover the needs of many folks and allow the use of those apps anywhere; hotel, internet cafe etc. I would certainly like a portable open Powerpoint.
I use the apps above on a Kingston DT Elite and they work really well.
If I did need to run MS Office etc I would install all that on a Seagate USB drive (or use a 2.5'' drive in an enclosure) and again I would not need admin privileges.
Thank you John for all the work you have put into Portable Apps. If you ever need a beta tester please let me know.
Thoughts?
- Rob
Generally, most reporters don't take the time to really get into the way something works. Most bloggers don't either. That's why you see these glowing reports of "take all your stuff and use it anywhere" when that's not really the case. Without the ability to run on limited accounts, you can't use it at school/university, work, etc. Without the ability to run on guest accounts, you can't use it at net cafes, public kiosks, etc. But how many of the reports on Mojopac have picked up on this? If you check the Mojopac forums, you'll see reports of users disappointed that they can't use it except on their home PC.
As for a portable open Powerpoint, try OpenOffice.org Impress Portable. It opens up most Powerpoint files without issue (unless you embed video, etc).
On beta testing... just keep an eye on the Beta Forum (there's even an RSS feed). All apps that need testing are noted there.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
there are a lot of limitations to Mojopac....but
I can install many things on Mojopac that are not yet (or legally) portable.
Yes I know there are alternatives that are or can be portable but I'm an old guy (by internet standards) and I like working with certain programs.
I use Portable Apps too (the best of both worlds). In fact, I have mostly portable apps on my Mojopac drive. Doesn't gunk up the registry. I can still get to them if I am in an environment where I can't run Mojopac.
I think there is a place for things like this...maybe not this one and maybe not yet, but soon. It is coming...
I agree with John, I am more concerned with the lack of response on their messageboards. Not sure what the problem is with that...they appear to be MIA. Maybe they are overwhelmed, maybe they don't have any answers or maybe they are pissed that not everybody thinks it is as great as they do.
How many of us have released something and been surprised when other people didn't think it was the best thing since sliced bread? Remember it is a lot easier to complain on a message board then to do the actual work, as many people here can attest.
Enough of my rant. Is it perfect? No
Is it a sign of things to come? I think it may be.
tracon
Oh yeah, one last thing...hey you damn kids, get off my lawn.
Actually, I wasn't poo-pooing the whole thing. I do think there is value in this approach. But the reporting on Mojopac has been sub-standard at best. The limitations of Mojopac are pretty big gotchas for someone that isn't aware of them... especially not being able to use it in a typical office environment, university campus or net cafe. There's only a very small subset of users that would be able to use Mojopac as what they're billing it as. And it's sad when reporters and bloggers miss that fact. Not to mention the fact that this actually produces MORE unhappy users on Mojopac's message board complaining about something that should be stated and fully explained upfront.
On the legal side, the legality of installing regular software into Mojopac is questionable. The End User License Agreement on most commercial software (including Microsoft and Adobe's applications) allows installation on a single PC. It doesn't permit moving between PCs. This is why Mojopac only supports volume licenses on software like Microsoft Office and why the typical end-user can't install it.
So again, I'm not saying there's no value in it. There is. But substantially less than most people think on first glance from reading what's being written about it. It's the same story with approaches based on the VMWare player like Moko5. They all run into the admin privs problem. And this isn't exclusive to virtualization. Encrypted Disc software has the same problem... even open source ones like TrueCrypt do. It's not a problem that's easily overcome. And it may be even harder under Vista.
On the topic of getting used to certain software... that isn't something that's exclusive based on age. I'm old by internet standards as well. But I've been adjusting to other software. Switching from Office to OpenOffice.org was dead easy. Switching from Internet Explorer to Firefox was a pleasure. Switching from AOL IM to Gaim has been great. Of course, some software is hard to replace with an open source equivalent that can be made portable. For me, that would be Paint Shop Pro / Photoshop and Delphi as my biggest ones. GIMP, while powerful, is painful to use due to its layout. And the open source Delphi-like language isn't quite there yet.
Now get off *MY* lawn
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
John, when I said
...looks good and professional...
I meant the website
----
R McCue
PortaBlog Home and My Website
People who didn't need people needed people around to know that they were
the kind of people who didn't need people.
(Maskerade)
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."