Portable OpenOffice.org 2.01 Released

VeryVito writes "Portableapps.com has released Portable OpenOffice.org 2.01 -- the complete office suite you can run from a USB drive for complete access to both your files and your office apps -- anywhere you go. More than just a neat idea, some say it's a perfect example of "the kind of innovation developers can make when they don't have to worry about selling as many licenses of their work as possible." I don't imagine we'll see a portable Microsoft Office suite any time soon."

Comments

Re:Slashdot deal with Microsoft?

[trezor]

And some people are paranoid.

Get some sense of proportion. It's a link. It's actually a link to a product you have to buy. And do you honestly believe that there still are people on this planet using computers that haven't heard about MS Office yet?

Christ. Talk about overreaction.

Portable Microsoft Office

[putko]

If Microsoft runs an online service, then the browser (modified, perhaps) will be all that will be required to run Office on any computer (with internet connection).

Any computer will have a browser (and connectivity), therefore MS Office will be omnipresent. You won't need to carry it around on a flash driver.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[kalbzayn]

But if Microsoft is creating this service, it will need ActiveX and will eventually cause great evil somewhere.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[Just Some Guy]

That presumes people are willing to run their business-critical apps on someone else's remote server. That looks good on paper every time someone proposes it, but Gmail is about the closest I've seen to it actually succeeding.

I think it may be a while before someone edits CorpFinancialsAndCustomerList.doc at a rented terminal.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[no reason to be here]

If Microsoft runs an online service
Isn't that a pretty big 'if' at this point, still?

then the browser (modified, perhaps) will be all that will be required to run Office on any computer
I somehow doubt that M$ are going to put out an online version of Office that is accessible through Firefox/Seamonkey/Safari/Opera/Konqueror/etc. At the very least online Office would require the latest and greatest version of IE. If they do go the WebApp route, I wouldn't be surprised to find Redmond charging for special client-side software to access the online apps. They could easily get business to buy into it, too, by saying that it makes the WebApp service more secure.

Any computer will have a browser (and connectivity), therefore MS Office will be omnipresent. You won't need to carry it around on a flash driver.
I see part of the attraction of this project is that it's not just a portable office suite, but also you get to keep your files. All of the proposed online Office ideas I've heard (including an online OO.o) usually have files saved on a remote server accessed over the Internet as a feature. I personally, and I think many others besides (especially many businesses and professionals), would prefer to keep their files stored locally.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[Kjella]

Any computer will have a browser (and connectivity), therefore MS Office will be omnipresent. You won't need to carry it around on a flash driver.

Well, my company pretty much have that already via Citrix. It's amazing how often I need a document offline on my laptop though (I suppose we could all start using GPRS or the like, but we don't now). One of the nice things about an USB stick is that you can use just the stick, or stick + laptop for offline access. Now give me online access AND a good automatable synch tool for local access, and I'd love it.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[slapout]

For many, the connectivity issue is a big if. There are a lot of places where you can't get a connection. And what about bandwidth requirements? Will dial-up users be out of luck? I'd rather carry the flash drive.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[Dausha]

"If Microsoft runs an online service, then the browser (modified, perhaps) will be all that will be required to run Office on any computer (with internet connection)."

And for those of us who find ourselves in a situation where we are at a computer without an internet connection are just plain screwed, right?

Although the project already seems /.'d, I'd love to get ahold of this little gem. The USB drive slowly unthethers me from just one/or a handful of computers. Autonomy!

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[jonnythan]

I don't think you have any experience dealing with executives from an IT standpoint. You'd be surprised. Execs will sit down and edit their documents wherever they damn well please, thank you very much.

Besides, there's nothing fundamentally different between running "mission critical apps" from a losable, stealable, USB drive than an online service.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[Crayon Kid]

Besides, there's nothing fundamentally different between running "mission critical apps" from a losable, stealable, USB drive than an online service.

Then let's conduct sensitive business meetings at the closest McDonalds, while we're at it.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[LoaTao]

Actually the one I think of is AIM. The number of businesses using it for IM is staggering. Yes, it has a client and yes it can use direct sessions and by-pass the AOL servers, but hardly anyone I have seen actually uses it that way.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[Dcnjoe60]

If Microsoft runs an online service, then the browser (modified, perhaps) will be all that will be required to run Office on any computer (with internet connection).

Any computer will have a browser (and connectivity), therefore MS Office will be omnipresent. You won't need to carry it around on a flash driver.


No, you won't need to carry around a usb key, but you might need a really long network cable to connect to the internet, since not everywhere has wireless (let alone free wireless). Plus, what happens when your internet is down?

Even with a T-1 connection, what type of response time will there be if there are 50 workers running Office remotely? How about 100 or 250? It would have to scale much better than terminal services does and still provide the "user experience" that people demand.

Of course, requiring the use of a modified Microsoft browser to run Microsoft Office which would probably require an upgrade to Windows Vista or beyond would be just the way to permanently lock people into Microsoft products, upgrade paths and revenue streams. All the more reason to use OpenOffice.org, portable or not.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[gi-tux]

They could easily get business to buy into it, too, by saying that it makes the WebApp service more secure.

And then when you read the fine print, you see that there is a clause that says that Microsoft now owns all rights to any data that is produced in this application. And for it to truly be portable, the data would have to be stored on their server as well, so how could you argue with the fine print after you discover it. Your document would simply disappear if you started to argue with them. Because they own the server, the application, and control the data.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[Anonymous Coward]

> Now there is Haiku [haiku-os.org]/New operating system/BeOS modeled

Isn't the last part supposed to consist of 5 syllables? Bee-oss-mod-ell-ed?

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[xenoterracide]

right and then a nasty virus or worm will hit microsoft and take down the computer your using to access there online office but in the process it will corrupt all of your important data. and the problem won't get fixed for a month. sorry... I don't care if they do, do that. when google does it I might try it. and why are we impressed with OOo on a flash drive? I could have done that? that's news?

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[jonnythan]

I guess I wasn't clear.

My contention was that neither the Internet nor USB drives were appropriate mediums for "mission critical" apps and documents.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[Anonymous Coward]

If Microsoft runs an online service, then the browser (modified, perhaps) will be all that will be required to run Office on any computer (with internet connection).

First of all, the only reason Microsoft would consider such a service is subscription fees; you would pay continuously for such service. The portable OpenOffice solutionh only requires that you pay once (for the thumbdrive) and then use it forever.

Secondly, what happens when Microsoft upgrades their on-line service and it forces you to reformat the document yet again to make it print right? Not to beat a dead horse but I have enough problems with documents created on different versions of Office printing correctly between versions. With the OpenOffice solution on a thumbdrive, I would be carrying the same software that I used to create the document with the document itself. I can be pretty confident that it would print the same.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[ubeans]

MS Office a web app?

How much bandwidth would be required simply to launch MS-Word? I think I`d rather fire up OpenOffice from a USB or CD drive rather than having to wait for MS-Word to download from the internet every time I want to use it. There are a maybe a hundred people on the floor here using MS-Word constantly. And they pretty much all come in to work at 9am in the morning. If they were to all download Ms-Word at the same time every morning, the local network would stop to a grinding halt at that time.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[_iris]

Which is exactly why in 10 years we will be running most of our software off of USB-key mini servers that serve as local web servers hosting a web service version of our favorite apps. They would auto-upgrade from a central server and offload some of the processing work where it makes sense. In a general sense, business PCs will become essentially a backplane for interconnecting these mini servers, with a ton of memory and a web browser.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[Kadin2048]

Given that MS has a vested interest in continuing to sell Windows licenses, and Office licenses, and Terminal Server licenses ... what you'd effectively have is Citrix. Except maybe replace the Citrix client with Internet Explorer.

That's MS's vision of "portable apps." Run them from as many Windows boxes as you can afford to license!

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[kimvette]

The Microsoft online service doesn't/won't compare:

1. You will need an Internet connection to access it
2. It will likely be married to MSIE - or at minimum be severely crippled on all browsers which are not MSIE
3. It will cost money and will not be a perpetual license
4. If the server or even just route to host goes down, you're SOL until it comes back up
5. You will be using any document format you like, as long as it's a Microsoft format

Also if you're considering an hosted office suite (or any enterprise-level app) for a business, you're putting your enterprise at risk. What if they screw up on billing and mistekenly cancel your service? What if they tank, and your data is hosted with them? What if they get hacked? Or worse, what if they have dirtbags working there who use your company's proprietary info for their own gain, e.g., using your trade secrets for their own personal ventures, or selling info to your competitors?

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[seweso]

Why do you think google is trying to achieve 100% uptime with their services? I certainly think the internet will be omnipresent in the near future (gprs,umts,wifi etc). Google *is* already omnipresent on the internet. If google is down your think the internet is down, right? I believe we will see the return of the thin-client with web-2.0 :D

Omnipresent is a nice word, i'm loving it.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[poisson_bete]

You might want to check out salesforce.com Sales force automation is a mission critical app, and salesforce.com is doing very well with the hosting model.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[ScouseMouse]

Actually I have seen sensitive business meetings held in the local pub, the people involved were discussing the firing of some contractors. Any of the people in involved could have been there.

"Systematically promoted to the place they can do the least harm" I believe is how Scott adams described it.

Ho hum.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[bill_mcgonigle]

I think it may be a while before someone edits CorpFinancialsAndCustomerList.doc at a rented terminal.

Tell me about these CFO's you know who are putting security ahead of cost...

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[HoosierPeschke]

Who needs to wait 10 years to run a web server on a usb key? A little outdated and I had problems getting to the site but I've been using this for awhile. Pretty good stuff.

Google Cache site

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[JourneyExpertApe]

Portable OO.o isn't about replacing the software installed on your work computer, it's about giving you the ability to run the office apps of you choice in computer labs and internet cafes and such. If you need to do business on the road, then you take your laptop with you. Editing important documents on a computer you don't own is risky whether it's in a web app or from a usb drive. The real disadvantage of a web office suite would be that webapps are just generally slower than local apps. It'd be kind of like running Office on a 500 rpm hard drive.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[no reason to be here]

<off topic>

Bee-oss-mod-ell-ed?

actually, they (Be, Inc.) intended it to be pronounced Be Oh Ess, like Mac OS; of course, running it all together caused people to think it is pronounced Beeoss. Anyway, the final line would then be Bee|Oh|Ess|Ma|Duld.

</off topic>

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[X0563511]

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/portableoo/port able_openoffice_2.0.1_en-us.zip?download

Have fun.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[moonbender]

Omnipresent is so last decade, the word to use is now ubiquitous. Actually, there probably is a yet more recent term.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[putko]

No doubt what you speak of will come to pass. And it will be proper punishment for those who trust Microsoft to hold their sacred data secure. And it won't ever get fixed. Not in a month, not in a lifetime.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[jkauzlar]

My contention was that either the Internet nor USB drives were appropriate mediums for "mission critical" apps and documents.

Well, hey, then why don't we just conduct our meetings and send memos through ad-space in the New York Times?

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[jkauzlar]

Now it's proper to say "all the hell over the place" or "everywhere you look" or "occupies every point in n-space."

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[Anonymous Coward]

Google *is* already omnipresent on the internet.

No it isn't. Google may have essentially 100% uptime but that doesn't make it omnipresent, do you know what that word means? Every site isn't running Google ad words or link to Googles search.

If google is down your think the internet is down, right?

Uh, no. You must be some AOL refugee if you think Google is the Internet.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[jkauzlar]

Good point, and don't forget that Google and Sun seem to have plans for a web-based open-office application. Actually, I'm not sure that's quite true, but I don't think Google and Sun are going to let Microsoft get a jump on this one.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[Cromac]

what you'd effectively have is Citrix. Except maybe replace the Citrix client with Internet Explorer.

They've already pretty much done that too. They have an active x control to connect to a remote desktop using IE.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networkin g/expert/russel_02January14.mspx

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[xenoterracide]

no of course the data won't, I was talking about the server.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[LukeyJunk]

From a corporate LAN perspective, this type of Portable OpenOffice setup seems to me to be a very nice way to go. Here's the scenario I have in my head:

1. Put the binaries for the Office apps/suite on a share point on whatever file server
2. Configure each user's profile to reside in their user directory
3. Umm... profit?

This way, any updates to the app would simply require kicking any obstinate users (who don't ever listen to me and always just leave their 16 unsaved Word docs and 12 unsaved Excel spreadsheets open and complain when I have to change their friggin password and log them out when I know I've emailed EVERYBODY on our %&*$&%&#$ network and TOLD them to log out at the end of the day and... umm, whoops...) out of the app and replacing the binaries with new ones. The most difficult part might be file associations for end users, but that could be fixed with a registry patch deployed via login script, or Active Directory, or whatever. This could probably be done now with OpenOffice. If I didn't work at a university with a site license for MS Office, I probably would go that route.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh...yep...

Microsoft Office Pro -- $13.99/month
Windows Vista -- $5.99/month
Microsoft Live -- $2.99/month

Late Payment Penalty -- Failure to transfer funds to Microsoft by the due date will result in failure of your software to operate in addition to a $25 late fee per product. Please allow 72 hours for your software to be reactivated.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[Kadin2048]

I've run MS Word as a remote application, delivered using Citrix, over a VPN on a 768k ISDN line.

It's not particularly pleasant, but it's not unusable either. What gets really obnoxious is that when you have multiple windows open, the system tends to disconnect and stop updating the ones not in focus, so when you click back to them there's a significant lag while they reconnect and update.

That said, there are significant and obvious differences between remote-delivered applications using Citrix or remote-xwindows and a web-delivered application like what Google (I think) and IBM is experimenting with. I've never used the latter.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[lymond01]

At the University, faculty are pretty resistant to putting confidential documents online. When you tell them that, "No, unless I disable your 'print screen' key, a copy can always be made somehow", they aren't excited. Less excited about not have a print screen key, so things move along anyway.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[Anonymous Coward]

It's very different from a security standpoint from running apps over the web if you also use Truecrypt to securely encrypt the info and carry a copy of truecrypt on your usb drive. If someone steals the usb key you've only really lost your latest edit (assuming the exec in question saves to a desktop now and then . . .) because the contents of the drive will be opaque to anyone wanting to access them.

Re:Portable Microsoft Office

[writermike]

That presumes people are willing to run their business-critical apps on someone else's remote server. That looks good on paper every time someone proposes it, but Gmail is about the closest I've seen to it actually succeeding.

I think you're point is valid, but this is Right Now. Places like Mailstreet that offer hosted Exchange are doing quite well. Yes, there is hesitation, but that's falling away when companies realize the savings they can reap from this type of situation on hardware, software installation and configuration, administration, off-site back ups, etc. (It must be said, though, that hosted Exchange does become too expensive, very quickly. It only works for small companies on limited budgets and/or individuals who want Exchange connectivity and Outlook Web Access.)

As time goes on, I think more and more people will be quite willing to embrace online hosting, but your point about risk is valid.

Portable Firefox

[bitkari]

The perfect partner to Portable OpenOffice might just be Portable Firefox.

This is very useful for me as I'm otherwise forced to use IE on the university computers. Neat.

Re:Portable Firefox

[SirDaShadow]

I second this. Not only that, but now I can have Firefox at home the way I want it and all I have to do is install portablefirefox on the usb and copy c:\program files\mozilla firefox and the profile in %appdata%\mozilla to their respective folders in the usb and viola! All settings, extensions and bookmarks are transfered to the usb key to use on my laptop.

Re:Portable Firefox

[anpe]

In fact there's a full Portable Suite here : http://portableapps.com/suite

Re:Portable Firefox

[chicken_moo]

Too bad the links seem to be broken to this site. Someone got another link that works?

Re:Portable Firefox

[kimvette]

slashdotted! :(

Google cache: http://216.239.51.104/search?hl=en&q=cache%3Aporta bleapps.com%2Fsuite+&btnG=Google+Search

Re:Portable Firefox

[VJ42]

Working linkt to a whole bunch of portable apps:
http://johnhaller.com/jh/useful_stuff/portable_app s_suite/

Re:Portable Firefox

[rts008]

You have hit the problem nail right on the head with ANY online app. I've seen too many sites /.ed just having a lot of people try to access a website, much less try to do any kind of "work" on said website. Nope, not ready for prime time if reliable access is needed at all times for business app's.

Re:Portable Firefox

[26242]

Wonderful (and mysterious) things happen when someone gets /.'ed and "Dugg" (?) (never heard of it!) at the same time!

Re:Portable Firefox

[X0563511]

The website itself says that (slightly) older versions of the individual portable apps are in that suit. Better to just download them seperatly to make sure you get the latest.

Re:Portable Firefox

[brontus3927]

Anyone know if can install plug-ins (i.e. Flash) to portable Firefox? I installed firefox onto my work computer from a CDR but I don't have the neccessary permissions to install the flash player.

The Windows 2k permissions set on this computer are rather odd. I could install firefox, gaim, and Acrobat Reader, but not flash and I can't defragment the disk (and this one needs it BAD)

Re:Portable Firefox

[SirDaShadow]

How to install Flash/etc plugins:

http://portableapps.com/support/portable_firefox#p lugins

here you go

Re:Portable Firefox

[SirDaShadow]

Ok, I enabled NKB so don't say I'm karma whoring by replying to myself :)
Forgot to mention it is CRUCIAL that as soon as you install Firefox on the usb drive and run it, immediately go to tools/options/cache and set the cache to 0. Why?

1) Improved performance. Yes, Firefox will work faster on a USB drive this way. Try it!

2) Longer lasting usb drive. Flash memory has a limited number of write cycles. By eliminating the cache, you minimize the writes to the drive.

Re:Portable Firefox

[brontus3927]

the instructions for the that link RE: flash: [blockquote] # Flash Plugin - The Flash plugin can't be included by default in Portable Firefox due to licensing issues, but you can add it yourself. Follow these steps: 1. Install Firefox on a local directory 2. Install the Flash plugin from Macromedia's website 3. Copy the NPSWF32.dll from the plugins folder of your local computer (usually C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\Plugins\) to the PortableFirefox\plugins folder of your portable drive [/blockquote]

I wonder if this would work for "non-portable" firefox already installed on my work PC, just drop the dll from my home PC into the local plugins folder of my work PC? Since I already have firefox installed here, being able to run it from the hard drive is much preferable to running it from my (only) flash-drive blugged into the back of my work computer.

Re:Slashdot deal with Microsoft?

[Prospero's Grue]

Why is Taco linking to Microsoft Office's home page? Is there a backhanded deal between Slashdot and Microsoft to covertly promote their software?

Yeah, that must be it.

"This OpenOffice story, which focused on a feature it had that MS Office didn't, was brought to you by Microsoft."

"Microsoft. We're gonna mess with your heads."

this is a great series

[User 956]

I use portableThunderbird (thunderbird that runs from a USB drive) and it's great.

Re:Slashdot deal with Microsoft?

[cHiphead]

actually this entire submitted news item honest to god feels like a ripoff of my comment posted here a few short hours ago... STRIKINGLY similar.

Cheers.

Suite! If I could only work on a beach in Hawaii

[digitaldc]

Office? We don't need no office, that is so 20th century. All we need now is a laptop, flash drive and a big umbrella.

Re:Slashdot deal with Microsoft?

[kalbzayn]

Maybe he's trying to bring Microsoft down by constantly slashdotting their site and making everybody believe the Microsoft is even more unreliable than it really is.

Let's all go click on it now.

I don't imagine.....

[Anonymous Coward]

"I don't imagine we'll see a portable Microsoft Office suite any time soon."

Your imagination is pretty limited, if this version of Open Office is successful, you can bet your tail that MS will have a version out. For a price...

Re:I don't imagine.....

[Anonymous Coward]

There was an older version of portable OpenOffice as well. Its used by a large number of people, at least those that can make use of it. MS will also have some trouble fitting their huge bloated Office version completely uncompressed on a thumb drive with space to spare for any reasonable cost.

MS would rather you buy a laptop if you want it portable anyway, that way you have to buy their OS, and their software.

let me

[raffe]

be the first to say:
THIS JUST ROCKS!
Now I can:
# Carry my web browser with all my favorite bookmarks
# Carry my calendar with all my appointments
# Carry my email client with all my contacts and settings
# Carry my instant messenger and my buddy list
# Carry my whole office suite along with my documents and presentations
# Carry my antivirus program and other computer utilities
# Carry all my important passwords and account information securely

Re:let me

[Anonymous Coward]

# Lose entire identity with a single USB key theft

Re:let me

[gnixdep]

Now you just need a 40GB thumb drive to carry it all on.

Re:let me

[Peeteriz]

Great!

Now I can conveniently, at the same time, lose (and have a stranger find)

# all my favorite bookmarks
# all my appointments
# all my contacts and settings
# my buddy list
# my documents and presentations
# my important passwords and account information

Fun, isn't it ?

Re:let me

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you know the word "backup" ? No ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup

Re:let me

[Hatta]

http://www.gdargaud.net/Hack/Windows.html

With a little work you can even rig yourself a portable cygwin which allows you a real unix environment anywhere you go. That way you can have firefox in X with multiple desktops and proper middle button behavior, with a shell and everything

Re:let me

[Anonymous Coward]

Well if you don't want to encrypt it, you can feel free to risk that.

Re:let me

[Anonymous Coward]

s/Carry/Lose/

Blrrrr!

Re:let me

[Cromac]

It won't be long. You can already get 5 gig 1" USB drives powered by the port for $100 from Frys.

Re:let me

[Belseth]

let me (Score:2, Insightful) by raffe (28595) * Alter Relationship on Wednesday January 04, @05:45AM (#14391566) (Last Journal: Thursday November 20, @02:55AM) be the first to say: THIS JUST ROCKS! Now I can: # Carry my web browser with all my favorite bookmarks # Carry my calendar with all my appointments # Carry my email client with all my contacts and settings # Carry my instant messenger and my buddy list # Carry my whole office suite along with my documents and presentations # Carry my antivirus program and other computer utilities # Carry all my important passwords and account information securely

We call them laptops.

That said I've been complaining to software companies since the first 1 gig usb drives hit the market that their software should come loaded on a USB drive. I'll happily pay an extra hundred for the freedom and convinence. With most higher end software node locked these days it's getting tough on the little guy. I'm starting to seriously miss dongles, scary thought. The current system is inflexsible and doesn't recognise little nasties like hard drive failure, I literally had to swap out three drives on one machine in a single month. Seems like an obvious evolution either providing a version of the software that can be loaded onto a USB drive or shipping the software on a USB drive. Since it'll add to cost some users won't want to do it but those of us currently forced to buy mulitple copies for multiple machines just so we can keep working when a machine is tied up will love it.

Re:let me

[cicho]

Where did you see that? Last time I checked (not longer than a month ago), a 1 GB thumb drive sold for $99 at Fry's.

It's all been done before.

[RacerZero]

Remember those application cartridges for the PC Jr. Yea yea laugh it up I had one. And all those other quasi computers with application cartridges?

Sure this is better but it has been done before.

Re:It's all been done before.

[w.p.richardson]

mmmm...... chicklet keyboards.... mmmm....

Re:It's all been done before.

[Skater]

I think I have a couple of those laying around somewhere. This isn't really the same thing, though - as far as I know those were ROMs, whereas the USB drive can be changed. So, when you find a bug and it's fixed in a later version, it's easy to correct it without finding a new cartridge or something. Also your USB drive can store data.

I see the connection you're making but I don't agree it's the same thing. It's FAR better.

Big achievment?

[Anonymous Coward]

The full suite is 144 MB installed. it is only portable if you have more than a 128 MB stick.

Re:Big achievment?

[byolinux]

To be fair, the price of the USB sticks is falling all the time. You can get a pair of 512mb on the high street for about £40-50 now.

Re:Big achievment?

[Westley]

Or 1GB for less than that from somewhere like EBuyer...

Jon

Re:Big achievment?

[FridayBob]

That's simply outrageous!! How dare the set such ridiculously high hardware requirements! Why, I'm sure that because of this, at least half of all readers who would have been will to try this out are now not even going to bother. The fools!

Re:Big achievment?

[Anonymous Coward]

Portable OpenOffice.org:
Speak softly and carry a big stick.

Re:Big achievment?

[pixelite]

when they say portable, i dont think they meant in the sense that it is small, but more along the lines that everything will stay on your media (usb memory): the application, the data, user preferences. That way you can take it with you to any computer, always having all of it with you, thus making it portable. Besides 1GB usb mem isn't that expensive.

Re:Big achievment?

[mopslik]

I haven't yet downloaded POO.o yet, and I haven't used any of these "portable apps" either, but are they just regular Windows binaries? Can they be UPXed if not already?

Firefox, for instance, shrinks down from 7MB to a nice 1.5MB on my horribly space-limited computer here at work.

Re:Big achievment?

[honeypotslash]

This isn't very bad at all, I was expecting much more... although I can't use it yet as my usb stick is too small. I'll probably get a bigger one eventually and load it with portable apps. The problem with making Microsoft office portable is you couldn't fit it to a stick... it already eats your entire hard drive just installing it.
--
Free PlayStation 3

Re:Big achievment?

[PhilHibbs]

Compressed executables? Boy, that takes me back a bit - the name LZEXE seems to come to mind. Didn't those go out of fashion? I remember reading an article on how it was a dangerous idea because virus scanners wouldn't spot compressed viruses.

Re:Big achievment?

[mopslik]

Apparently, the new virus scanners can parse the files. In several instances, packed EXEs have set off erroneous red flags as viruses themselves. McAffee used to trip over certain files, though it has since been fixed.

While not *that* common, I have noticed that a number of projects pack their files since the speed-penalty is rather negligible, and the download/storage savings is a benefit.

Re:Big achievment?

[timeOday]

I got a 256 meg for $15 after rebate at Staples.

I think time is on the side of OpenOffice here. 256 is already so cheap, and tomorrow it will be almost free.

Re:Big achievment?

[gatzke]

1 GB USB for $60 USD at Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0003009DK/ref=pd _sl_aw_alx-jeb-9-1_ce_7071122_16/103-1132044-97166 55?n=172282

Re:Big achievment?

[loki1978]

I assumed with USB-drive he meant a harddrive that can be hooked up via USB

something like Lacie makes

Re:Big achievment?

[matt21811]

Betting on Moores law is a smart idea. MicroSoft has done it for more than a decade and won every time.

The Megabytes per $ for flash has averaged about 130% improvment each year over the last 5 years. There is no reason to think this year will be any different.

If you are saying that you can only afford a 128 MB flash drive right now, then it will only be about 10 months before you can afford a 256 MB one.

Re:Big achievment?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the point is if you have a 128MB drive, it costs $0 to use it. It will be a while before buying a 256MB drive can compete with that price point

Translation

[estoll]

From the article:
"This is exactly the kind of innovation developers can make when they don't have to worry about selling as many licenses of their work as possible"

Translation:
"This is exactly the kind of innovation developers can make when they don't have to worry about how many people find their software useful."

Re:Translation

[Anonymous Coward]

I can see that your comment could be modded "funny", but "insightful"?

For the mod who thought the comment was insightful: the comment should be translated as

"This is exactly the kind of innovation developers can make when they don't mind if people copy their software."

Please mod me "obvious".

Re:Translation

[GweeDo]

I can't seem to find the "Obvious" moderation. Would "Overrated" or "Offtopic" work? They start with "O" you know...

Re:Translation

[Anivair]

Right. Nothing useful about an office suite that can handle it's own formats plus the formats of all major office suites (includinghte competition) AND fits in your pocket AND it's free AND. Did I mention that it runs on all major operating systems? Which is to say you'd have a hard time finding an OS that it can't run on. Yeah. I can't imagine a situation in which that might be useful.

Re:Translation

[shmlco]

Useful, yes, but innovative? Copying an application and some documents to a thumb drive? Serioursly, if Microsoft did it and called it "innovative" people here would be laughing their asses off...

Re:Translation

[Anonymous Coward]

Your statements are only equivalent if the license is free or close to free.

Re:Translation

[kaffiene]

Who modded that insightful?

Seemed like a spiteful troll to me.

Re:Translation

[Anivair]

People (like me) would laugh their asses off, but we'd have no right to. Really, a mobile office suite IS innovative. I'd make fun of MS for doing it because I hate them, but I wouldn't have a leg to stand on. it may not be particularly inventive, i guess . . . mobility is all the rage now, but actually making it happen is a big deal.

There's a full release ahead of us?!?

[Just Some Guy]

How'd they get OpenOffice.org 2.1 (dropping the leading zero) when the rest of us only have 2.0.1?

Remember, folks, those periods are separators and not decimals.
</pedant>

Re:There's a full release ahead of us?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow! I'm so behind! Still running 2.0.0

;-)

Re:There's a full release ahead of us?!?

[Kadin2048]

That's not pedantic, that's a full revision difference. Practically an order of magnitude in the software world, if you will.

I'm willing to write it off as a typo, but still it's a pretty serious one.

wireless USB

[skynare]

now, all they need is to make wireless USB thumb drives. that way, hackers can read my files in the drive.

Re:wireless USB

[Anonymous Coward]

It's called BLUETOOTH. and I have a BT pocket storage device.

maybe if you would take the time to look you would find it.

and yes, it's stupid that every laptop made over the past 3 years does not have BT on the motherboard.

My system on USB

[Nichotin]

Parent poster has a point. It is nice to have your own stuff on a usb drive. Pretty handy for school systems where you are not allowed to touch the local file system, but executables on usb drives can be run.
I have taken this a step further, though. I have installed gentoo on my usb drive. It is very simple, just have all the usb support in the kernel, then make an initrd which makes the machine wait for a little while for usb mass storage devices to settle, before it tries to mount them as root ( "sleep 5" in /linuxrc in the initrd worked out for me, but there are probably better ways of doing it too ). Grub installs just fine on the usb drive.
This is ideal for me, as "all" the machines I use that are not mine, can boot from usb.

Re:My system on USB

[Tet]

Pretty handy for school systems where you are not allowed to touch the local file system

Perhaps so, but it's pretty lax security if they have them set up that way. Any large installation of computers worth its salt will have access to USB mass storage devices (and in fact, any removable media) disabled from a regular desktop.

Re:My system on USB

[guaigean]

Once windows has booted maybe, but a LARGE percentage of networks don't block boot devices on their machines from being selected and active before a kernel boots.

Re:My system on USB

[Forge]

"Lax Security" IS accepteble. It all depends on your environment and what you are securing from.

In a school the problem you face on studen desktops is accidental file system or OS coruption. Block access to the local file system and you solve that problem.

Malicius attacks from tech savy students ?

You CAN'T protect against that with technology and maintain usefulness as an educational tool. Onless the technology in question is survailance cameras.

Not without nift, but...

[Elvis Parsley]

...I tend to carry data between computers which have software which I know will run the files I have rather than to strangers' machines without a predictable set of software. Then again, most of the stuff I carry around is text files, so this may very well be of use to people who aren't me.

Portable web server?

[johnw]

Can they do a portable slashdot-proof web server?

Re:Portable web server?

[Anivair]

I already have one. The best way to slashdot-proof a webserver, I hear, is to unplug it.

Re:Portable web server?

[shish]

It's certainly possible... (if you define "comes with it's own truck" as "portable")

Shame it's still 144Mb Installed...

[Solo-Malee]

If only they could get it down to 128Mb then it would really be portable! And yes, I am a cheapskate that only has 128Mb sticks!

Re:Shame it's still 144Mb Installed...

[polyp2000]

Man you must be really rich. I can only affor 64mb sticks.

Windows Only?

[Hakubi_Washu]

Well, I understand most people use Windows, but i use Linux, so I'd need my "portable" apps to be multisystem, either by being truly compatible or including both compiles. When will such a thing surface? Browser, email, calendar, office... These "portable" apps (OOo, FF, TB, etc.) are nice, but in the end, a small suite, coded in Java or as a bootable system (though that's inconvenient), is more likely to be of use to me...

Re:Windows Only?

[TobascoKid]

I've been thinking about that jsut recently and I think a better (though probably expensive) option might be to have the apps running on a PDA with Linux on it and then hook the pda up to the PC via USB/Bluetooth/WiFi/Ethernet and use VNC to access the apps.

It might not be the quickest way to run the apps, but PDAs are getting faster over time, so it gradually becoems more feasible.

Re:Windows Only?

[Hakubi_Washu]

But that would either require VNC on the host (and I have never seen anybody but me have that installed) or using the webclient, which is a pain in the ass and kind of defeats the purpose... The PDA will have problems accessing the net (Windows is crap as router, really), your apps are limited to the PDAs processing capacity, etc. In the end, just using the PDA seems a lot easier :-)

Re:Windows Only?

[blackest_k]

hmm I think there might be some merit in using a pda as a small server.
for example I have a small website hosted on a linux box I made it as an unofficial resource for a course i was studying last year. now i think that if i could set it up on the pda it'd be
1)quiet
2)cheap to run
3)as it is battery backed It'd always be up when the power came back online.
to be honest cpu power isn't such an issue for me i have a couple of xscale pda's that will run upto 520 Mhz native is 400Mhz
but here i am writing this on a 400mhz laptop...

I think i might just go have a play

Re:Windows Only?

[Viceice]

So why not make the USB drive bootable? Have like a bare minimum copy of Linux on it with drivers for net and printers and have OOo loaded on it. Insert drive, restart and viola, your office on any x86 machine.

Re:Windows Only?

[neomajic]

http://www.google.com/search?q=bootable+linux+usb+ drive&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&r ls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

Re:Windows Only?

[Nikademus]

Why not just running a vmplayer instance of a linux OS with all the apps you need. All you need is vmplayer both for linux and windows, that's probably better in size than having all apps with dual OS executables. When I say vmplayer, it's just for performance purposes, but qemu can do the trick as well.

Re:Windows Only?

[TobascoKid]

But that would either require VNC on the host (and I have never seen anybody but me have that installed) or using the webclient, which is a pain in the ass and kind of defeats the purpose

Not if you had a "Portable VNC Client" that the host can read off the PDA (just make the PDA look like a USB mass storage device) and you'd probably only need that for windows, as if you on a *nix box you could just use X.

The PDA will have problems accessing the net (Windows is crap as router, really)

I think that's always going to be a case of YMMV - a lot will depend on how the PDA is connected to the host. I suppose the worst case would be in an internet cafe connected connected to a windows pc via USB - but then I would be very surprised if internet cafes keep allowing arbitrary code to run off USB devices (it seems to me to be a security nightmare) so the whole "portable apps" craze will probably be a bit of a wash out there eventually anyway.

I suppose as a backup, the PDA could hold copies of the windows "portable app suite" for when networking connectivity just isn't up to scratch, but then you're kinda defeating the purpose.

A lot will depend on what sort environment you're mostly going to be using - if it's mostly windows machines with the occasional bit of linux on x86 you're probably better off with just a usb stick and couple of binaries, if it's mostly *nix on various architectures with the ocassional bit of windows an "app server in your pocket" might be a better way to go.

portable MS Office suite soon

[Randall311]

"I don't imagine we'll see a portable Microsoft Office suite any time soon."

why not?

Re:portable MS Office suite soon

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly. What a better way to control your product than to distribute it on a tangible hardware platform? High end apps have used "dongles" for years to control the physical number of copies of software.

I can see Mickeysoft pushing towards that goal using some hardware serialized proprietary flash memory technology to prevent piracy (via copying).

In the words of the goofy Guinness commercial... "BRILLIANT!"

Re:portable MS Office suite soon

[Ucklak]

I think it's possible only if Microsoft distributes the USB device or licenses the USB device so that the software is tied to the USB hardware (of which will be quickly hacked and promptly distributed to the masses)

Even so, that will only be good for Windows only operating systems.

Re:portable MS Office suite soon

[layer3switch]

MS already had that for awhile. It's called 'NOTEPAD.EXE'.

Author AND reference

[Wubby]

OK, did anyone else notice that the author of this peice, VeryVito, uses himself as a reference. The "some say" link is to his own blog. Come on, if your going to plug yourself, be open about it!

Oh, and the portable apps site seems to be 403. Slashdotted, maybe?

As the links seems dead now:

[ledow]

As the links seems dead now:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/portableoo/

can this work from other devices

[blackest_k]

would this work from a pda or pda phone?
with wireless built in I could see it working as a nifty little server.
What could you put in one gig?
If you could run apache on CE now that could be fun and quiet very quiet.
actually ahem
http://www.rainer-keuchel.de/software.html
looks like you can

just a thought

Re:Slashdot deal with Microsoft?

[drsmithy]

Indeed, because Slashdot and its members are reknowned internet-wide for their gushing, unconditional praise of Microsoft's technology and business practices.

Innovation...

[Weedlekin]

Sounds more like the sort of innovation one can make when one isn't trying to lock people into running a particular software instalzÒ_on on a single computer.

Re:Innovation...

[Weedlekin]

Sod it. Should have previewed! That should read "particular software installation".

MS Office does not need to be portable....

[bpuli]

it is already on every PC out there.

Re:MS Office does not need to be portable....

[darkestsello]

uhhhmm... no its not....!

Re:MS Office does not need to be portable....

[RosenSama]

Lots of Dell computers no longer come with Office for "free". The come with Corel WordPerfect and Office Basic is $149. This is also what is costs to upgrade from Windows MCE to XP. That's a lot of money considering what computer you can get for $500.

Re:Slashdot deal with Microsoft?

[menkhaura]

I believe I read "lightweight" referring to OpenOffice... oooh the hangover

403 Forbidden

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like Apache on a USB drive isn't working out so well.

Re:403 Forbidden

[Anonymous Coward]

certainly not if you unplug the USB stick

World is round indeed!

[Anonymous Coward]

All I can say about this "feature" is that it proves how round the world is. When I had a MSX computer (old 8 bit system, similar to C64, TRS-80 and etc), I had a Office suite in cartridge that I took it from home to any other place to use it on other MSX'es. Some time later, everyone was telling me how oldish I was for keep using cartridge-based apps and computers. Floppies and HD's was the the only acceptable way to use computers. And now we just go back to use cartridges (renamed as pendrives) and it is the lastest fine piece of technology, a very cool new feature...

Note: My Office cartridge even had SRAM on it.

Re:World is round indeed!

[kimvette]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSX

wow. This is in no way similar to the C=64 - it appears to have been superior in every way. I wish we had those here in the US in the '80s. I never heard of it until now. I thought I had it good with a C=128. :(

Re:World is round indeed!

[Anonymous Coward]

Heretic! C64 had more addressable RAM, slightly better sound chip, slightly higher horizontal resolution, better sprites per line (and multicolour sprites), was cheaper, and didn't have "microsoft" in the name (although it did have a very crappy microsoft basic in the ROM - people rave about the BBC model B BASIC I understand) :-)

Re:Slashdot deal with Microsoft?

[16K Ram Pack]

Microsoft advertising on slashdot is like a pension company advertising on MTV.

I use it!

[oneandoneis2]

IE at my workplace sucks more than usual because all the settings are locked down & we can't change so much as the default start page.

Portable Firefox was a godsend, initially running off a flash drive, and then moving onto a USB hard drive, which subsequently received all the rest of the portable apps. OOo is a bit slow to start, but it's nice to have the ODF support available.

Now if somebody could just create an extension so I could use the same profile for both my home Linux FF and work XP FF, I'd be really happy :o)

Not suprised

[plopez]

at all the security breaches and identity theft going on, if the twits are this cavelier about handling corp. information.

I know the the attitude "I'm the [CEO|manager|owner] don't bother me with trivial details. *I* have important work to do".

CEO's need to he held directly and personally resopnsible for the shortcomings of their company. After all, this is why they get the big bucks, right?

Re:Not suprised

[Tekzel]

I know the the attitude "I'm the [CEO|manager|owner] don't bother me with trivial details. *I* have important work to do".

CEO's need to he held directly and personally resopnsible for the shortcomings of their company. After all, this is why they get the big bucks, right?

Please. My guess is that 90% of the CEOs out there aren't CEOs by merit they are by accident or family. Hell, a lot of them are blooming idiots with ridiculous attitudes. Its a wonder they can manage to tie their shoes much less a multi-million dollar company.

Re:Not suprised

[theCAS]

The problem with people from management is that they usually aren't chosen for their intelligence but for their social skills.

When one of them succesfully climbs the ladder it is in his/her interest to stop people smarter than him/her to get promoted, his/her successors will probably do the same.

Repeat the process a sufficient number of times and you can understand why CEOs are chosen among the dumbest people in the human race.

Re:Not suprised

[neomunk]

Not just dumbest, but MEANEST too, that's from all that stopping smart people. Since they cann't out-smart the smart ppl, they have to out-mean them.

64 meg? You were lucky

[Anonymous Coward]

When I were a lad we 'ad do mek do with 8k of core storage, boot up two hours before we logged off the night before, and pay the machine owner fer the privilege.
Try tellin that to kids today - they won't believe you.

It is UPXed

[CritterNYC]

And the JARs are compressed to max with 7zip. That brings it from 206MB to 144MB.

Re:It is UPXed

[mopslik]

Ahhh, well, there goes that idea. Thanks.

Integration

[robyannetta]

I'd like to see the Firefox team and the OpenOffice.org team get together and collaborate on integration of the two.

That may truly give Microsoft's Office a run for its money.

Comments?

Re:Integration

[cnettel]

Yeah, like opening any document and its macros automagically inside the Firefox window! We could even call this cool component technology something, like OpenX.

Re:Integration

[phoenix.bam!]

How about you leave off the stupid one word prompt at the end of your posts? If someone thinks your post is worthwhile to reply to they will. Comments?

Re:Integration

[wcmcalister]

How about you leave off the stupid one word prompt at the end of your posts? If someone thinks your post is worthwhile to reply to they will.

Comments?

Re:Integration

[shish]

Comments?

"How did this gett modded informative rather than funny?"?

Server down. GCache

[Anonymous Coward]

The server is down, the Google cache for this page is up-to-date, and the downloads are hosted at sourceforge.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=cache%3Ahttp% 3A%2F%2Fportableapps.com%2Fapps%2Foffice%2Fsuites% 2Fportable_openoffice

Down from 206MB

[CritterNYC]

It's at 144MB down from 206MB with nothing left out. The JARs are compressed to max with 7zip. The DLLs and EXEs are UPXed. We're working on recompressing the included PNGs (which may buy us another 5MB or so) and a few other things along those lines.

More like...

[Anonymous Coward]

it's a perfect example of "the kind of innovation developers can make when they don't have to worry about selling as many licenses of their work as possible."

No, this is more like the kind of innovation developers can make when they worry more about customer convenience and less about lockin and world domination.

Face it: Microsoft's concerns have always been about Microsoft first and the user second.

Damn Small Lunux on USB

[sgt scrub]

The perfect portable "app" is the USB version of DSL. http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/ You can buy the drive with everything preinstalled directly from them.

Re:Damn Small Lunux on USB

[Anonymous Coward]

Not really. With DSL, you first of all need over 1GB of memory on the machine you're running it on to work comfortably. Secondly, you are most likely to be behind some kind of a firewall where configuration of Firefox will be impossible.

Re:Damn Small Lunux on USB

[afernie]

Umm... what? I think you must be thinking of something else. DSL can at least run in 16MB of RAM, and can run fully in RAM with 128MB RAM. I routinely use it (along with the included version of Firefox) behind my corporate firewall. What configuration of Firefox is it that you think would be affected?

linux thumbdrives

[rheotaxis]

Why just an office suite? I'm waiting for the bootable 1GB thumbdrive with a mini-distro of Slackware, please. Oh, maybe I could just make it myself? Let me go back to my workshop for awhile. Meanwhile you can read this link back to another /. post.

Re:linux thumbdrives

[oni]

I'm waiting for the bootable 1GB thumbdrive with a mini-distro of Slackware

Ask and ye shall receive (sort of).
http://www.projectblackdog.com/

Re:linux thumbdrives

[Orrin Bloquy]

http://slax.org/

My Memorex 1Gb thumbdrive boots Slax, has OpenOffice 2.0, Firefox 1.5, and an assload of other software. And most of these were straight conversions of Slackware packages. FF1.5 was a direct conversion from the original MoFo .tgz, not even a Slackware specific package.

Another one bites the dust...

[Khelder]

Once again, another poor, innocent server melted down by a slashdotting...

Google cache of home page is here: http://google.com/search?q=cache:4xtQ3HrcVacJ:port ableapps.com/+&hl=en&client=firefox-a

Working on that

[CritterNYC]

Cross platform with the same profile is an eventual goal

Which begs the question

[el_womble]

Why can't I get from WalMart or Amazon a portable, opensource office suite on a USB key?

Sell it for $5 more than the cheapest equivalent capacity stick, or about the same as a branded stick and let the profits go to the developers.

$50 for 512MB portable office is cheap, especially if all a noob has to do to install it is plug it into a USB slot and double click the application. My poorly wired consumer brain is reluctant to shell out for software on a CD, if only becuase they're slow and you know their practically free to make. I'd probably buy an office on a stick because I know if I didn't like the software at least I'd still have something that I still have some use for.

Re:Which begs the question

[belloc]

"Which begs the question..."

That's not what begging the question means.

Do we have to go through this EVERY time?

Re:Which begs the question

[TobascoKid]

That's not what begging the question means.

Do we have to go through this EVERY time?

Apperently it does in modern usage http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question# Modern_Usage

Re:Which begs the question

[Bongo Bill]

Why not do it yourself? Show some entrepreneurial initiative.

Re:Which begs the question

[jc42]

Do we have to go through this EVERY time?

Probably, because the classical definition is nonsensical. It has no obvious relation to the meanings of the three words. Well, ok, "the" has the right meaning. But there's no obvious sense of begging in the definition, and there's usually no obvious question.

There's nothing wrong with such nonsense, of course. It's clearly an idiom, i.e., a phrase whose meaning can't be derived from the literal meanings of its words. We use idioms all the time. Many are like this one, an obsolete usage that lingers on.

The modern meaning is an obvious, literal interpretation of the phrase. As such, it should be approved by us geeks and nerds, since one of our regular sources of humor is taking an idiom or metaphor in its literal sense.

So I'd expect this dispute to come up nearly every time someone uses "beg(ging) the question". It will take a lot of education to reinstall the older definition in the minds of people accustomed to the modern usage.

While we're at it, maybe we can work on getting people to use "thou", "thy" and "thee" correctly. I see these misused all the time. ;-)

MS has been there, done that?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not to rain on your parade but couldn't the Mac version of MS Office run off a USB stick? All you need is to drag-and-drop to the stick and go.

Site Down, Working On It

[CritterNYC]

Sorry about the 403, the site didn't handle a full Slashdotting as well as hoped (being on a shared web server, it was slamming the PHP resources). It's actually run on the Drupal open source content management system (Apache+mySQL+PHP). I'm working on having my host get it back up.

Until then, you can view the Google Cache of the older Portable OpenOffice release and get the new release from the SourceForge Portable OpenOffice.org project page

done that, bene there...

[Anonymous Coward]

get or mirror http://lodbrok.homeip.net:7080/software/unixtk-bet a2.iso.gz

SourceForge Project page...

[CritterNYC]

Links help... it's here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/portableoo

If it can be this small

[beforewisdom]

If portable OO can be this small, why isn't that the regular version of OO? Fewer features?

I don't use much beyond the basic functionality of OO anyway. Maybe I should just use the portable version on my home PC

Re:Slashdot deal with Microsoft?

[Anonymous Coward]

What bullcrap!

The last install of Open Office 1.1.? I did for a client involved a 70 Megabyte download from the Web. The last time I reinstalled Office 2000 for a client from CD, it required downloading 60 Mbyte service pack and then another 33 Mbytes of critical updates on-line.

The entire install file for OpenOffice was smaller than the updates for Microsoft Office. "Lightweight" in my book!

Why can't all Windows apps be portable?

[swb]

Is it super-extra-hard to write a Windows app that doesn't require the registry and DLLs placed everywhere? Or is that merely the result of developers just using framework that ties their apps to 87 different locations on the filesystem?

I really miss the good ol' days of MacOS apps where you could just copy the stupid App folder (and in some cases JUST the app) and get a complete working copy.

Re:Why can't all Windows apps be portable?

[Jon_Hanson]

Old days? You can still do that on OS X.

About a year ago a kid got busted taking his iPod in to the store with him to CompUSA and/or Apple Stores, mounting the iPod as a drive, and then copying high-dollar applications directly from the demo machine's drive to the iPod.

Re:Why can't all Windows apps be portable?

[jaypaulw]

Yes but some applications now use an "installer" which does voodoo and stuff.

I loved the whole .app packaged application concept when I learned about it (I am long time windows user)

Copyright

[CrazedWalrus]

Because that would make it really easy to pass around copies of the installation. If the whole install was encapsulated in a single folder, it's a trivial matter to duplicate it to another USB stick.

Currently, MS Office is a mess of registry settings, DLLs in every thinkable system directory, etc, etc. Criminy, just try to back up office by simply burning the Program Files subdir to disk. I doubt it'd work so well once you copy it back after a format of your disk. You really need the Office install disks as your backup.

Hairballs hard to copy. Neatly packaged installation, easy.

Re:Copyright

[TheRaven64]

It would be relatively easy for MS to create a version of office that needed to dial home every time you ran it. You could run it from a USB drive on any internet-connected computer - even if you only had GPRS or modem access, then it wouldn't need much (just connect to microsoft.com via SSL and handshake). If you tried running it on multiple computers, then your CD key would be revoked and you would have to get a new one.

Personally, I'd rather use OpenOffice than have the hassle of that, but if there's a market for this kind of thing then MS could fulfil it.

Re:Slashdot deal with Microsoft?

[eno2001]

What happened to Saturday in Liverpool you right yob? ;P

Portable Open Office...It's Called CD rom

[xoip]

Ok...anyone who uses a usb key has a cd rom drive. Save the money on the hardware and burn a few CD's of Open Office. Better yet, buy a printed them from me:). Carry it with you Give it to your friends and family. Just get it out there.
btw...If you want professionally printed OO 1.1.4 in bulk, I've got'em.

Re:Portable Open Office...It's Called CD rom

[barberouge]

You dont get it. learn about portable software !

Re:Portable Open Office...It's Called CD rom

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm, it lets you carry your programs (fine, should be read-only) and data (oops, shouldn't be read only)

Thats why its not on CDs.

Yes I suppose you could use CD-RWs, but that gets messy.

Is it just me...

[Source Quench]

...or did anyone else read the link as:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/portableloo/

Re:Is it just me...

[Anonymous Coward]

Already made. It's not very practical.

portable application

[barberouge]

This one rock, if you dont have enough space, I suggest using portable Abiword. To get more portable application visit : http://standalone.atspace.org/index.html and http://www.portablefreeware.com/ I use them alot on my pc, this way I never have to reinstall/reconfigure them after a Reinstallation of windows. I also love using portable antivirus and others security program from a cd, so I can boot my mom pc in safe mode !

2.0 Not working on FreeBSD

[Anne Thwacks]

I still cant get 2.0 to work on FreeBSD - the cursor ignores the arrow keys! My bug reports seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

Re:2.0 Not working on FreeBSD

[TheRaven64]

Compiling OO.o 2.0 on any platform is a pain, and compiling it on FreeBSD is a real bitch, since you have to jump through hoops to get Java working first, so I haven't felt the need to install it from ports, but the binary package worked fine on my ThinkPad running 6.0-RELEASE, so it may be a problem with your install.

Re:2.0 Not working on FreeBSD

[Geekbot]

Mine does the same thing. But instead of just ignoring the arrows it keeps putting numbers up on the screen instead of moving the cursor. Do you think this might be related to your problem? I called the Help Desk but they started laughing at me so I hung up.

Slashdotted

[mysticgoat]

When I looked for TFA just now, I realized that these roll-your-own "I'm slashdotted" pages just don't make sense on today's internet. Would someone please petition the W3C to expand the HTTP standard to include a
"409: Site Temporarily Unavailable: Blame Slashdot"
page?

TIA,

"funny" gives no karma

[Anonymous Coward]

Ask /. admins to fix it.

Re:Reminds me of a poem

[Anonymous Coward]

how's it sold?
nice and cold
what's the jive?
bird's alive!

Re:Slashdot deal with Microsoft?

[menkhaura]

I'm not whinning about OpenOffice being lightweight or not in relation to MS Office. An application that takes more than half a minute from click icon to ready to work, eating a couple hundred megs of RAM and maxing out an Athlon 64 3200+ CPU in the process is not lightweight by any book. Abiword is lightweight, kword is lightweight, but OpenOffice is definitely not.

Besides, you download/install once, but (depending on your job) you fire it up every so often.

Does anyone remember when this was the NORM?

[Spy der Mann]

DOS apps only required one directory to install. You could run them from floppy disks.

And then, came Windows... and the registry.

Re:Does anyone remember when this was the NORM?

[DarkProphet]

Fortunately, .Net 2.0 supports some regression back to this mode to a degree. .Net 2.0 apps don't touch the registry at all by default (they have their own 'registry' which resides in the install directory), but user-specific configurations and other variables do end up getting stored in /Documents and Settings/username or equivalent, which is Windows' standard way to keep the data inaccessible to other users. A developer could forgo this and save user-specific settings in a subdirectory of the install directory, but to do that correctly you'd have to encrypt the data with a user-defined password to disallow other users from accessing the data. You could forgo encryption entirely, but then you run into security concerns. The downside to doing all of this is that the user is required to enter their password when they start the application. The upside is that if the .Net application can be run under Mono, then the .Net app is platform/filesystem independant. Apparently these few extra steps to avoid using /Documents and Settings wasn't worth the effort for VS.Net 2005, though I can't imagine why.

Don't need one

[Syberghost]

We don't need a "portable Microsoft Office". It's on every freakin' PC you might find yourself using that's otherwise out of your control anyway.

Re:Don't need one

[Anonymous Coward]

We don't need a "portable Microsoft Office". It's on every freakin' PC you might find yourself using that's otherwise out of your control anyway.

Why, yes, there is probably some version of Office running on it. Now, if it is not the same version that I used to create the doc, can it even read it? and how much reformatting do I have to do to get it to print the same?

Re:Don't need one

[Syberghost]

Why, yes, there is probably some version of Office running on it. Now, if it is not the same version that I used to create the doc, can it even read it? and how much reformatting do I have to do to get it to print the same?

To the (limited) extent that I wasn't joking, that was sort of the point; we don't need a portable fooOffice so much as we need a portable document format.

But mostly I was joking. :)

More portable apps!

[Mr_Whoopass]

There are a lot more applications that work from a USB key that don't advertise that fact. I will share with you what I currently use on my 1gb USB key and the locations you can download them. Most of these are freeware or relatively cheap shareware. Please help the authors continue their work if you use any of these and make a small donation at their sites if available.

Audacity - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
This one will run from your key, but it does write to the registry which portable apps should not do. Then again, they don't advertise this as a portable app. Once you use it on a machine and configure it, it will remember your settings on that machine of course. Handy if you are locked down at work from installing software but you need it occasionally.

Bulk Rename Utility - http://www.jimwillsher.co.uk/Site/Software/Softwar e_Intro.php
a utility which allows the rapid renaming of files and folders, based upon flexible selection criteria. Download the zip version for portability.

FeedReader - http://www.feedreader.com/
This project is currently dead, but it works from USB wonderfully.

FoxitReader - http://www.foxitsoftware.com/bbs/index.php
A PDF reader that works very quickly (kind of like Adobe used to about 6 years ago).

Miranda - http://www.miranda-im.org/
A powerful and flexible multiprotocol IM client with loads of plugins. Download the zip version for portability.

mIRC - http://www.mirc.com/
Everyones favorite IRC app. Has always been portable.

PortableFileZilla - http://portableapps.com/
Portable FileZilla is the popular FileZilla FTP client packaged as a portable app, so you can take your server list and settings with you.

PortableFirefox - http://portableapps.com/
Portable Firefox is the popular Mozilla Firefox web browser packaged as a portable app, so you can take your bookmarks, extensions and saved passwords with you.

PortableNVU - http://portableapps.com/
Portable NVU is the easy-to-use NVU web editor packaged as a portable app, so you can edit your website on the go.

PortableOpenOffice - http://portableapps.com/
Portable OpenOffice.org is the popular OpenOffice.org office suite -- including a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, drawing package and database -- packaged as a portable app

PortableSunbird - http://portableapps.com/
Portable Sunbird is the handy Mozilla Sunbird calendar and task manager packaged as a portable app, so you can take your calendar and to do list with you.

PortableThunderbird - http://portableapps.com/
Portable Thunderbird is the popular Mozilla Thunderbird email client packaged as a portable app, so you can take your email, address book and account settings with you.

Snippy - http://www.bhelpuri.net/Snippy/
Snippy is a small utility that captures an area of your screen to your clipboard to paste into other applications.

AleJenJes Countdown Timer - http://www.gonebowlin.com/freeware.html
It is a simple countdown timer where you enter the starting time in hours, minutes & seconds and it counts down to zero. Not needed often, but handy as can be for those few instances you do need one.

Unit Conversion Utility - http://www.jimwillsher.co.uk/Site/Software/UCU_Int ro.html
Unit Conversion U

Re:More portable apps!

[Anonymous Coward]

Now if somebody could link me up with a tiny footprint version of Linux to throw on my key, I would be set!

http://www.goosee.com/puppy/ Use Puppy linux for that, man, and away you go. Footprints in the ~64Mb range. A 256Mb stick could have your portable linux and a portable set of apps for the windows machines you visit.

Re:More portable apps!

[CoolHnd30]

Now if somebody could link me up with a tiny footprint version of Linux to throw on my key, I would be set!

you probably wanna check this out then: http://damnsmalllinux.org/

Re:More portable apps!

[NereusRen]

Now if somebody could link me up with a tiny footprint version of Linux to throw on my key, I would be set!

Does "damn small" count as tiny? :)

http://damnsmalllinux.org/

Re:More portable apps!

[jbarr]

Great list! Here's another resource for portable apps:

http://www.portablefreeware.com/

They're all free, and the collection is pretty comperhensive.

-Jim
http://jimstips.com/

Encrypt It

[CritterNYC]

Use something like TrueCrypt to encrypt it. The next version of the Portable Apps Suite will include an option to encyrpt your personal data.

Down from 206MB

[CritterNYC]

It was 206MB before I started. Between 7zipping the JARs and UPXing the EXEs and DLLs I got it to 144MB. Someone is working on recompressing the PNGs which may buy another 5MB.

If you're on a smaller drive, use Portable AbiWord as your word processor (only 14MB installed) and something like Spread32 for your spreadsheet. I'm working on a portable version of gnumeric, but it's a bit flakey at the moment.

Not so, padewon . . .

[mmell]

Bootlegged it once, checked it out once, uninstalled it once, installed OpenOffice 1.4.1 and never looked back . . .

(Yes, MS-Office was somewhat superior at that time, but not enough so to justify the $450+ price tag. OO did/does everything I care about, for 100% less money)

Now using OO 2.0.1, both at home and at work. Life is good.

Re:Slashdot deal with Microsoft?

[lcsjk]

Next time, hire your own editor, and work on your headlines.

Off topic ??

[lcsjk]

I'll bet you are on the wrong thread.

Nothing left to do for the desktop version?

[LOADLETTER]

The OOO project most certainly displays great !focus. >:0( Focus would be the (only) benefit of having a big company backing such project in order to prioritize necessities from nonsense SHAME ON YOU SUN!!!

big deal?

[j.blechert]

I don't see what the fuss is about. this is as easy as putting your home on a usb stick and mount it..

Been working at Microsoft long?

[mmell]

Or are you still adjusting to that lobotomy?

Re:Slashdot deal with Microsoft?

[Anonymous Coward]

An application that takes more than half a minute from click icon to ready to work... Athlon 64 3200+ CPU...

I am running w2k on a 2.2 Ghz Celeron P4 (non-HT) with a 400 M FSB and 512k RAM... just timed the startup of 00 2.0 Writer: 3-4 seconds!

WTF are you talkin' about?

Wow, Slashdotted AND Dugg...

[Anonymous Coward]

.. at the same time. This is truly the sign of the apocalypse. Everyone take cover!

You must be kidding

[Anonymous Coward]

I've already lost too many hours to this hackey piece of garbage.
I can only hope that OpenOffice developers suffer in the most horrible way imaginable.
Die OpenOffice, die you mangy cur.

indeed

[hawk]

such words are ever-present . . .

:)

hawk

Free FTP/S Command-Line Client for Windows

[jonathan_lampe]

http://www.standardnetworks.com/moveitfreely

Free FTP/S command-line client for Windows. (FTP/S = FTP over SSL). Traditional and portable installations available.