Related projects

Two links surfaced on delicious detailing some portable software collections:

• instantfundas.com
• downloadsquad.com

Free portable Ashampoo Office software

Really enjoying this Office suite, usually less than free.  Note that it takes a few steps and you have to give an email address to get a registration, but so far very worth it.

Thanks to Joby and Ennovoy over at PFW.

Portable software gets a boost

As many of you may have noticed, PortableApps.com won some awards.  It looks like portable software is gaining some real recognition.

Try these also

This collection is, among other things, a huge recommendation for 100s of software tools. However, I haven't tested everything. Here's some that have come highly recommended on PortableFreeware: 1 , 2 , 3, 4

I never would have re-tried Foobar2000 if it wasn't for one of the users on these forums.

Lupo PenSuite vs. Kitchen

I spent some time with a similar portable freeware tool.  Some results...

Bad about Kitchen / good about theirs

• Software that self-checks for the latest versions
• Installer that self-checks for problems and is smooth and clean
  
• A much more friendly rewrite of CAFE.  Very pretty.
• "Photos", "documents", and other folders that all the programs automatically default to
• My menu is increasingly cluttered as I keep adding stuff
• Not very skinnable - theirs has great skins built right in
  
• I need a changelog.txt and license.txt -- maybe all under "readme"
• Their "starter" software rules -- it has a services pane that's fantastically detailed.  Fortunately I can add this to future editions.
• ASuite - their version of Pstart -- is GPL'd and makes my menu system look cluttered.
• Smaller, lighter, leaner, and smoother.

Good about Kitchen / bad about theirs

• Has FAR fewer programs than Kitchen and much limited functionality
• My Pstart setup is much cleaner and more responsive than these menus - the fade in look of the menu felt clunky
• I don't put links in my software to online resources, which are useless if you're stuck without a net connection
  
• Their version of CAFE only has 35 file associations
• Mine has a more consistent look and feel-- the skins probably cause problems in documentation
  
• Folder Size is not as good as Folder Sizer (Kitchen Sink's version is WAY better)
  

Reviews

I recently went through and looked at some competing projects.  At first I was really stunned and disheartened by the fact that my project is by no means unique, but gradually realized that Kitchen Sink has a real place at the table.

Some of the best criticism for my project came from this five star review of a similar project, winPenPack:

• Multiple licenses, some of them only for personal use, meaning giving it to your employees isn't quite legal.  Worse than PenPack, I haven't spelled out which programs have which licenses.
  
• Apps for almost every need but varying quality and usefulness.
• Not much of a way to customize beyond deleting the directory and PStart icon.  Not difficult but by no means smooth.
• Only a few of these programs are daily use -- the others are "niche" or "occasional"
• There's some "fat" and repetition of uses on my program too and this stung to read: "there is no need for 3 calendar programs".  I would contend that there is but the reviewer has a point.
  

Other freeware collections

Some fellow projects I'll be looking at and learning from:

Free:

• WinInzio - (softpedia mirror)
• Lupo-PenSuite (softpedia mirror)

Non-free:

• PC Helper Utilities - (only on softpedia)

Portable platform is here

Great news: Portableapps Installer just came out, which allows other developers to modify their own applications for PortableApps. This is great because its basically creating a platform for portable software that makes it easy for other developers to get on board and hand their software to users without their users needing to be tech savvy. Hopefully this will pull more developers towards making portable software and this will only increase the size of Kitchen Sink.

Great job, PortableApps.

Competition!

Freewareupdater.

The program appears to do basically what mine does (in terms of size and scale) but is self-updating. That's not just competition, that's genuinely a better solution.

I'll check it out and see if I need to point people to their program rather than mine. Guessing from how the development process on their software is kind of a black box, it seems I still have something to offer. After all *anyone* can do what I'm doing and take it in any direction. The menu system, programs, and everything else can be edited or changed at the user's whim.