08 December 2011, 14:12

PortableApps.com Platform reaches version 10

The PortableApps.com Platform menu PortableApps.com has announced the release of version 10, code-named "Leo", of the project's open source portable software platform for Windows. Founder and lead developer John T. Haller explained that with the PortableApps.com Platform, users can install a variety of free and open source applications to portable storage such as a USB flash drive or external hard drive. Once installed, the applications run completely from the drive and can be used on any Windows computer.

Version 10 of the platform for portable apps includes a new theming engine with multiple chrome styles and improvements to the application updater, which automatically alerts users to newer versions of installed apps and offers to upgrade them. For those who want to have particular fonts available to their apps from any system, the platform can carry fonts, including TrueType, OpenType and TrueType Collections, so that they don't need to be installed on each local machine to be used by the portable software.

The Portable App Directory includes a variety of applications, many of which are open source The built-in Portable App Directory app store allows users to find, download and install new applications including web browsers, games, utilities, educational tools, office suites, image editors and chat applications. Users who only want open source apps can tick the "Show Only Open Source Apps" box under the Advanced tab in Options.

Other new features include support for both automated and customisable folders, also referred to as categories, and the addition of advanced options to, for example, hide the word "Portable" in app names, automatically launch applications and hide splash screens. A type-to-find search feature has also been added to make it quicker and easier to find installed apps.

Under options, users can enable the Show Only Open Source Apps setting for the App Directory More details about the platform can be found in the PortableApps.com Platform Features page. Version 10.0.1 of the PortableApps.com Platform is available to download from the project's site; existing users can update by clicking "Manage Apps" and then "Check for Updates". Hosted on SourceForge, source code for the PortableApps.com Platform is licensed under the GPL, with parts under the MIT licence.