Portable Apps..?

[Chipp Walters]

I've been thinking a lot about this lately-- and I'm leaning on the side 
of creating next versions of my apps as mostly portable from now on. 
Portable apps have the distinguishing feature they are entirely 
self-contained in a single folder and can even be stored on USB drives 
if the user wishes. They are easy to install and delete and move, as 
well as maintain. For more info on portable apps check out:
http://portableapps.com/

Here's my problems with the current system:

Windows

Different user management schemes have one store 
prefs/data/substacks/externals/plugins and documents in different areas.

For instance upon installation, IF YOU HAVE THE RIGHT PREFS (ADMIN), you 
can

1) install executable and externals in:
C:\Program Files\MyApp.exe

2) keep preferences, plugins, etc.. in:
C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Application Data\MyApp\myPrefs.txt (not 
to mention the registry)

3) Keep documents in:
C:\Documents and Settings\Chipp\My Documents\MyApp\myDoc.myd

and God help you if you want to update something in the Program Files 
directory and you don't have permissions! So, updatable applications 
have more trouble, not to mention the problems with uninstalling with 
all of the various folders and content strewn about and customer support.

The Mac is not too different as they have similar Applications folder, 
User/Library/Prefs folder and a Documents folder.

Current installers can place these apps anywhere (including the Programs 
folder) and it appears more and more companies are opting for this type 
of installation.

BTW, I do have the licensing figured out so that they aren't 
'giveaways', so that's not an issue.

Any thoughts about this before I take the leap?

best,

Chipp