Portable Applications · Nov 28, 07:40 PM

A few weeks ago my friend Jeff did a piece on online applications in which he talks about several “access-anywhere” applications created mostly by the folks at Google. Well, today I came across another on-the-go alternative: PortableApps.

This is a suite of opensource applications wrapped up in a tidy little package that you install onto any portable device: A USB thumbdrive, a flashcard, even an iPod. Then when you connect that device to any computer running Windows1 and it automatically puts an icon in the system tray which allows you to use their suite of applications, all the while storing your downloads, documents, and images onto the device from which it is running. screenshot
When you’re finished simply remove the device and be on your way happy in the knowledge that your stuff is in your pocket ready for you the next time you’re at a computer.

The nice thing about this is that you don’t have to have access to the internet in order to access your files. You do have to carry them around with you wherever you go though. I installed the suite to my 1GB USB thumbdrive in less than 15 minutes. I had no hassles running any of the applications and even added a couple more that aren’t in the standard suite of apps. For me it’s merely a novelty right now, but I could get used to it and I already use Openoffice.org2 for all of my application needs.

There is even a way to run an older version of the Mac OS (version 7, I believe) from the suite. So go check it out and go try another way to go mobile.

1 Odd that they would limit themselves to one OS, especially one as proprietary as Microsoft, when they are using all opensource applications.

2 Created by Sun these are applications for Wordprocessing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, and graphic design. They are provided in the Portable App Suite natively.

— Steve Harward

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