Hi developers! 
I would like to know if it's allowed to create a collection of my favorite PortableApps from PortableApps.com. I would include them in a zip-archive with a small HTML-documentation and provide them on my homepage.
I think this isn't legal, is it?
thanks stgr
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It contains copyrighted images/logos on the splashes, so no. You can do it yourself, but only for personal use.
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
Thanks
I can understand that John should get the credit for his logos, and that you can't claim them as your own, but let me quote from the PortableApps home page:
Free
The Portable Apps Suite™ is free. It contains no spyware. There are no advertisements. It isn't a limited or trial version. There is no additional hardware or software to buy. You don't even have to give out your email address. It's 100% free to use, free to copy and free to share.
So, if the suite and apps are 100% free to share , but you are saying you can't because John stamped them all with his logo, then perhaps I am calculating 100% differently than you are.
Also, I understand that "personal use" means "just for me", but isn't that the exact opposite of "sharing"?
So, if I have a web site, and I post:
"Hey, I found a great site called PortableApps.com, here's the link. You can get the apps there, OR I'm providing a zip file with all my favorite ones, and here's that link"
I think that would be in line with the spirit of Open Source and license of GPL, nicht wahr?
I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.
The apps itself are OpenSource. That means that they can be redistributed and modified as you want.
Now the logos aren't. They are Copyrighted and Trademarked (see the Copyrights page). That means that the logos can't be modified and redistributed. So, if you want to change and redistribute the suite, you can, but not with the PortableApps.com Logo and name (it is a little like Firefox, John had a lot of luck in being able to distribute it without renaming it to "IceWeasel").
So you can post on a website "Hey, I found a great site called PortableApps.com, here's the link. You can get the apps there, OR I'm providing a zip file with all my favorite ones, and here's that link". But that zip can't have any logos from PA.com.
He can redistribute the unaltered installers without issue as well to anyone he'd like... that's why it says "Free to Share"... it is. He can download a copy of the PortableApps.com Suite and any of the apps, burn the installers to CD and pass it out on campus or to coworkers, etc. Just as you can with regular Firefox, Thunderbird, etc. That's why you'll find regular Mozilla Firefox as well as the PortableApps.com Suite available from Download.com and other sites.
Though, it's preferred that you just link here because that way:
1. The end-user will be getting the latest version (you'd be amazed at how many blogs link directly to a download, so users finding it months later are clicking to download Firefox Portable 2.0.0.1)
2. PortableApps.com gets the traffic and maybe a little bit of money from advertising
3. The downloads are accurately counted, boosting our SF download numbers and giving us a better idea how many users we have
Incidentally, the Mozilla licensing wasn't luck. It took quite a lot of coordination and effort (legal, organizational and technical).
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
What if I wanted to post the original menu with the themeing mod that you posted on my site, in a self extracting 7 sip, with the legal info underneath the download?
Okay, not okay?
Stuff it in an installer?
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I figured as much. The claims that you can never share because of the logos seemed a bit claustrophobic, and Microsoftian.
BTW, when I pass out copies of these apps (and I do as often as I can) I always tell them to check your site for the latests and greatests, as well as to read the forums and make a donation if they see fit.
I agree, it would be best if they just went there and downloaded from the start. When I describe PA to them, most say, "wow, sounds great" and never go to the site. If I give them a CD, or copy a couple of apps to their drives, they are hooked, and then they start to DL from PortableApps.com.
I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.
So you're saying PA.com is like "selling drugs" then?
You give the person a little taste and they get hooked. Now they can't get enough of PA.com and PortableApps and check back daily for new releases.
I know the feeling. I'm a PortableApps junkie since 2006.
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I'm one of them, too...
And I'm achin' for the final release of the PAM v 1.1.
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I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.