Portable Apps Are The Future

Okay, I've just discovered "portable apps".  Am I old-fashioned or cutting edge?  Regardless, after understanding what a portable app is, I realize that this is the future of computing.  The future I tell you!  So listen up.

Althought the term might be new to you, you already know what a portable app is.  It is the rare program that doesn't write crap all over your computer when you install it.  In other words, it is the complete opposite of virtually any product from Adobe, Real Networks, Apple, and yes, Microsoft.  It is the rare program that you "extract" rather than "install".  A program that resides completely and utterly within a single directory.  Want to move it?  No problem.  Drag away.  Want to remove it?  Delete.  Done.

Why is this significant?  How about loading all of your favorite apps onto a keychain flash drive?  Plug your drive into the USB port of any PC and run your programs.  Unplug your drive and nothing is left behind.  Awesome.

The Prediction:

This is the way that computers will work in the future.  Just like DVD players, VCRs, and Console systems, computers will become more and more uniform and standardized.  As we all start carrying around 100Gig flash drives, computers will no longer require storage.  You will plug your software into any computer, do your work, and then remove your software.  Just like you do with your DVD player.
You may have run across some of these beautiful programs in the past.  There are a few long standing examples like Eclipse, Notepad++, and um... well there aren't very many of them.  That is all changing now, thanks to sites like PortableApps.com, Portabl USB Apps, PortableFreeware.com, and Wikipedia.  Not only are there some great freeware applications available, but I've also seen a portable version of Photoshop 8 and Nero Burning ROM 6.6.1.4 out in the wild.  Imagine running Photoshop from a thumb drive?

And check this the-frig out: XAMMP.  A complete open-source web server package runnable from a thumb drive.  Incredibly geek-a-licious.

I'm so excited by this that I went out to NewEgg.com and bought a wicked fast 4Gig flash drive.  I've got about 20 portable apps waiting and ready for loading.  I'm also going to stick all of my eBooks on there.

Hideously ugly, I know.  But I'm going for Specs, baby!  Specs!