Portable Apps..?

[Chipp Walters]

Alex Tweedly wrote:

> I can easily see the "easy to install, delete and move" - but I'm not 
> quite so sure about the "easy to maintain". It seems like there might be 
> issues with any new version wishing to retain the existing user 
> preferences and data.

I'm thinking my apps are all updated over the internet, so new versions
wouldn't have a problem with prefs.

I license 1 app to 1 person, so I'm not worried about multiple users.


> I'd be interested in your thoughts on how you'll lay out the contents 
> within the single folder.
> Maybe 3 (typically) sub-folders - application, prefs and data ?
>    (with the user having the choice of putting data elsewhere, of course).

Yes, indeed something like that.

> How do portable apps work out for the non-portable user ?

They could install it anywhere they like on their hard drive. Program
Files if they wanted to.

> One more thought - are you considering cross-platform portable apps ??
> A single folder that contains Windows + Mac + Linux apps ... to allow 
> people to use whichever machine type is available; one step further than 
> the portableapps site has done, but would be really cool, I think.

Wow! That's a very cool idea. I think I'll be sure and architect for it.
Could be a great selling point, especially if you only use a single
splashscreen standalone for each platform (like I typically do anyway).

-Chipp