Portable software to take your programs – and preferences – on the go

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/02/2009 (6195 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER, B.C. – Forget the laptop.

You can now carry some of your favourite software – with all the settings you’re used to – in your pocket and use it on any computer as if you were at home.

A growing number of programs are available as so-called portable applications, which can run off a USB thumb drive or other flash memory without being installed or leaving anything behind on the computer they’re used on.

“There’s a number of reasons (to carry them), the most obvious one is so you can have all of your stuff with you wherever you go,” says John Haller, head of PortableApps.com, a popular, free collection of portable applications.

“You can have all your email, your office suite, your instant messaging list, all your files, even your desktop wallpaper on any desktop PC you plug into.”

From Internet browsers and email clients to image editors and word processors, many portable applications are free and don’t require much technical know-how.

Haller released a portable version of the Firefox web browser in 2004, allowing users to plug into computers at work, Internet cafes or elsewhere and have all their bookmarks, plug-ins and settings ready to go.

He estimates there are now as many as five million people using the dozens of Windows programs at PortableApps.com, all based on open-source software such as OpenOffice, a free competitor to Microsoft Office.

Aside from PortableApps there are several other free options available, and some commercial software packages can create portable versions of applications.

With portable software, users don’t need to carry around a laptop if they have access to a public computer.

Haller says the software is popular among students who use computers at school and travellers who don’t want to lug around a laptop as they trek across Europe. He’s even heard of some U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan using them to keep in touch with families back home.

Some USB thumb drives made by SanDisk come with a piece of software called U3, a portable format that can run modified versions of free and commercial programs, including Firefox and Skype.

Macintosh users can download portable applications at freesmug.com, which features Mac versions of many of the same programs offered from PortableApps.

A piece of software called MojoPac has free and commercial versions that allow users to work in virtual desktops that should look the same as their home computers and run many of the same programs, although it likely won’t work on some public computers where users’ actions are restricted.

Ceedo is another commercial application that can run a similar list of software, with an add-on that users can buy to install other programs. That add-on – called Argo – lets users take just about any piece of commercial software they own and run it off a USB drive.

Peter Carcione of Ceedo, which has partnered with thumb drive maker Lexar, says that means popular word processors, high-end games and complex graphic editing programs can all be made portable.

“Ease of use? It’s incredibly easy,” says Carcione.

“You can make any PC your PC. I’ve been able to install almost everything, from $300 flight simulators to my French learning program.”

There are disadvantages to portable applications, not the least of which is that you need to have access to a computer to run the software in the first place.

Since they’re running off USB devices, some software may load and respond slower than if they were installed on a computer hard drive.

And for options like Ceedo and MojoPac, not all software will work perfectly, which means there could be bugs or tweaks that may be beyond the scope of the average user.

Still, Carcione thinks portable applications will only become more popular as computers become more central to our lives, and users want access to their programs and documents even when they don’t have their computers handy.

“I think it is a trend that we’ll see a lot of growth in,” says Carcione.

“Five years ago we all used one computer. Now they’re talking about the computer being our virtual hub, where we put everything.”

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On the web:

www.PortableApps.com

www.freesmug.org/portableapps/

www.u3.com

www.ceedo.com

www.vmware.com/products/thinapp/