Hi!
Quote:
Originally Posted by spwolf
it is one we are looking at too... do you have any experience with it Micke, how about shell extensions support and associations?
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I've been using it for about a year now. Have tested and used it in Windows XP, Windows 7, Ubuntu 10.04 and Linux Mint 10 through Wine. I find it very user friendly and I haven't got into any problem using it. Since all the Portable Apps programs are Windows versions, not all of them will work through Wine in Ubuntu, but that's something I can live with.
However, you can't associate a file extension to a portable apps program. At least I haven't tried to do that, because the whole point in using Portable Apps it that the programs don't get installed on the computer and that they won't leave any traces after running.
If I could for example associate .odt extension (LibreOffice Writer) to the Portable version of LO Writer, this would get problems after exit the portable apps program and removing the USB Memory stick, if no other programs on the computer could open .odt files. Instead I have to start the program and then open the file from the program.
Another point is that you should keep all the documents and images your are using with Portable Apps on the same USB Memory stick, since you want both the programs and the document to be portable. You can also from the running Portable Program open files that are stored on the hard drive.
I haven't seen any shell extension support and as far as I know, it's not supported because of the reasons I just mentioned.
I have also tested running Portable Apps on a computer that I have no admin rights on and it run without any problem. It takes some time to start the selected program from the USB Memory, but once it's started I really can't say that it feels any different from running it installed on the computer.
If it would come a Portable Apps version of Power Archiver, the user would have to first open PA and then from PA open the selected archive. I believe this is acceptable since we are not install or changing anything in the OS on the computer and all the programs will run directly from the USB Memory stick.
I'm not sure if all this answered your question, but personally I like Portable Apps a lot and I had no problem using it. It's also very convenient to have all the programs I need in my pocket and if I also would be able to have PowerArchives on a USB Memory stick, it would be even better.
Kind Regards
Micke