I noticed on the U3 blog, they have sorts of testimonials. Here's a few snippets and my comments:
"When I received this U3 smart drive gift from my aunt, I was pleased that I got a 1 GB kit so that I could load important installer for office use. [...] Aside from this, my favorite web browser isn’t installed in my manager’s PC. Having U3 by my side, I need not worry about missing my mail from home and work since I carry both with me. I can also bring Mozilla Firefox to any PC and surf my favorite website since they are stored there. Better yet, I also have all the passwords from my Mozilla with me so I can simply login to Amazon and buy stuff without worrying for leaving a trace. I have also been able to keep in touch with my friends without installing any messenger programs on the said PC. [...] Thanks U3."
PortableApps.com made the original Firefox for U3. Looks like U3 updated it themselves.
I am a busy medical professional working across sites. I find it strange I survived without a U3 drive so far. Short of making the coffee, my U3 drive does everything! I carry my favourite programmes - Firefox, OpenOffice, CruserSync to help me on PCs that don’t have them (many don’t). I am reassured by the different levels of safety and security available.
PortableApps.com made FF for U3 and OO.o for U3. CruzerSync is a drive specific app, but PortableApps.com Backup and Toucan are good competitors.
Being a Road Warrior, my laptop is my office. [...] Then I remembered I have my U3 smart drive with OpenOffice installed! I insert my U3 drive into my laptop and a few seconds later I can open the documents I need for my meeting. This saved me – what a backup plan! [...]
OO.o for U3 originally by PortableApps.com - once again
Anyone got my point yet?
Without PortableApps.com, U3 would be nowhere.
----
Ryan McCue
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Got it!
“Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts” - Richard P. Feynman
"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate
U3 is another one of those great ideas, made totally useless by the license they chose to use.
What's the income from Portapps?
What's the income from U3?
What do you use to buy your USB sticks? Your pc?
Or put another way;
What surrounds you when you come online?
What surrounds Bill Gates when he comes online?
Textual smileys will be replaced with graphical ones.
[sarcasm]Which are blank or white so no one can see them. Clever.[/sarcasm]
Ed
Ed
Actually, that would be use of an old n busted IE5/6 that does that. Issues with transparent PNGs n all. I haven't gotten around to trying to create yet another workaround for it.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
It was indeed with IE 6 that I observed the problem. But 99.44/100% of web forums use GIFs for their smilies. I think it's because of their acceptance with a wide range of browsers and the no effort needed to make some other format work. It could be a $$ issue, it could be a time management issue, but it does work and you know that.
Ed
Ed
Actually, the smilies are built into Drupal, so they're used on lots and lots of websites. Yeah, they're PNGs. But I also had to add a transparent PNG hack so that IE5/6 would properly display transparent PNG images as they're used on the site. This hack somehow breaks other PNGs... but again, only on IE5/6.
So, it's an issue, but it's gone on for a LONG time as I hadn't tested IE5/6 since my original site design. I'd never use IE for daily use.
And no, GIFs are not proper substitutes for PNGs. PNGs use alpha transparency... so one image can blend into what's behind it. An example is the app icons on the homepage which blend into the background image behind it. With GIFs, they'd have jagged edges.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I was using smithtech's water skin, since I am a water person, and in looking at the app icons on the menu, on icons that are not squares, I see little white edges around them.
Are the app icons png or gif? Or maybe it is smithtech's side, what are they?
Can png mix with gif and still be transparent?
"... respect, all good works are not done by only good folk. For here, at the end of all things, we shall do what needs to be done."
Don't be an uberPr∅. They are stinky.
Well John, I appreciate your time in this discussion but I do not wish to continue it since I doubt it will accomplish anything.
All I know, is after 10 yrs of being on the 'net 8 hrs a day 7 days a week this is the 1st forum I've encounter that uses this software, which has shortcomings with the most common browser on the planet. Emoticons and tags being two of the most obvious along with finding the most recent posting in a thread.
When you get a chance, take a look at http://www.phpbb.com/. It's browser is Open Source with tons of support and works fine with IE, FF, Netscape and Opera with no hacks necessary.
You'll have so much free time after switching to it you'll have time to walk the dog. :o
Good luck.
Ed
Ed
Hehe... hang on Ed. Like I said, it's a combination of things that causes the issue. All tied to IE5/6's busted rendering engine.
This site runs on Drupal, one of the most popular open source content management systems in the world. Lots of big folks use it like TheOnion, Debian Planet, Linux Journal, Berkley, New York Observer and more. And it's backed by big names like IBM.
Unlike PHPBB, Drupal runs the entire site here... forums, search, pages, case tracking, blogs, etc. So, unlike a regular site that has one CSS for the site and one for PHPBB, this site has one CSS for everything. And, that CSS includes a hack for PNG transparency for IE5/6 to fix its broken renderer. Unfortunately, that hack causes IE5/6 to hide certain PNGs that don't use alpha transparency. And, unfortunately, Drupal's smiley setup uses that type of PNG.
So, I was left with the choice of having IE5/6 users see a bad-looking homepage and other pages... or miss out on smilies in the forums. And, since most IE5/6 users are viewing the homepage and not in the forums... the decision was simple.
Also, though IE6 is the most popular browser in the world, it certainly isn't here. Only 18% of visitors to PortableApps.com use IE6. Since this is a site for geekier folks, Firefox, of course, rules the roost... as it does with nearly all tech/geek sites.
So, like I said, it's a combination of things. And I'll look into fixing it eventually. But my time is short and it's a lower priority.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Just after seeing your comment there, I tested it in IE6, no go for the smilies :sad:. Just another reason Open Source beats commercial almost all the time.
"There is a tendency for the world to say to America, 'the big problems of the world are yours, you go and sort them out,' and then to worry when America wants to sort them out.
Tony Blair
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning." - Rick Cook
Just another reason Open Source beats commercial almost all the time.
It's not even that. It's Microsoft's arrogance and apathy. AFAIK, Safari and Opera don't use horribly broken engines.
Vintage!
I felt like chiming in here and making a personal point. Arguing this with the guy is pretty pointless, he is advocating the use of two dead products. The GIF and IE6. Who cares? If he can't be bothered to upgrade to something that isn't old and broken (as both are) then what can be said? I gather from your responses that you don't want to call someone out on something like this but I will. Ed, get a browser that doesn't suck
And, the GIF is dead, let it rest in peace.
And, the GIF is dead, let it rest in peace.
That is far from true, unfortunately. There are still plenty of sites that use static GIFs for whatever reason. Plus, there is very little support for MNG among browsers. Not even Firefox supports it out-of-the-box, and AFAIK, there is no extension to add support. There is only a special build of it, and IMO, that is a bad way of doing things. MNG support was dropped from the trunk long ago, and hasn't been added since. I wish I knew why.
Arguing this with the guy is pretty pointless, he is advocating the use of two dead products. The GIF and IE6.
GIF isn't broken; it's just not as efficient (or feature-filled) as PNG/MNG.
Vintage!
U3 bashing is so lame. I use U3 all the time and it works fine. Maybe your tune will change next year after Microsoft puts its money and marketing behind it. Maybe, just maybe U3 will actually become better.
U3 bashing seems to be the third most popular activity around here, right behind asking John to respond to e-mails and asking when PAM 2 is coming.
That joke of you really saved my evening.
:lol:
“Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts” - Richard P. Feynman
"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate
this isn't really bashing U3, this thread was just pointing out at U3 is using the apps that John has made, and seem to be taking the credit for themselves. U3 is a great idea, and it does work fine, but the only real differences here are that U3 costs money, and it can autorun without any mouse clicks because of the fake cd partition. and honestly i'd rather click my mouse once or twice than pay an extra $30 to have a drive with U3, and only a few free apps, then a bunch of apps that I could add if i want to pay more money
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
Just for the record the free apps John developed are still free on U3, even the ones John stopped supporting. And the U3 download page lists far more free apps than commercial ones.
Ed
Ed
I just can't wait for their new "trusted" portable platform
with hidden cookies, unique srn and "DEP".
U3 already has "Digital Restriction Management"-capabilities,
imagine what it can do when "micro$oft" have had their
cold dead hands on the project.
the only thing useful about U3 is the fact that you can use
the CD-device for your own launchpad .
In Vista, John's Portable Apps Suite autolaunches without any tweaking. I was pleasantly surprised after buying a new computer that came with Vista. Just one less "advantage" of U3.
-Joe