Challenging the users in the MultiValue community to produce an Application that runs on a Thumb-Drive

On Feb 26, 2:48*pm, Tony Gravagno
<address.is.in.po... (AT) removethis (DOT) com.invalid> wrote:

Gee wrote:
PS: Do I win ?

If I understand what you did correctly then I don't think so. *You're
just using the device for storage. *What happens if you move it to
another system where D3 isn't installed? *Even if you installed D3 on
a different system and used the device for data, the activation
signature wouldn't match so the system would be unusable.

As I understand it the topic involves the ability to walk up to any
computer, plug in a thumb drive, execute an onboard application, then
take the app and data away with you without leaving any residue.

I can do "one better" (not really a game I play and I know there are
many reasons why this surely isn't one better for every type of app,
but...)

No thumb drive required.

I can walk up to any computer on the internet with a standard-enough
browser and config (with js enabled, for example) and without adding
any hardware or software to this node, I can run my app and walk away
with very little residue (a cookie maybe). There is no installation or
setup required by the user. They can then walk up to another machine
and continue as if they had started there. It is like using a terminal
on that giant internet mainframe.

I think that is pretty cool, even if I'm not exactly unique in writing
such an app (but perhaps a bit more unique in using mvbasic and
javascript as the two languages in the source code, no php, ruby,
perl, python, java, C#, VB etc required, thanks to Cache').

cheers! --dawn

The software I referenced at wikipedia facilitates this - some may
work for MV.

T

On Feb 26, 3:48*pm, Tony Gravagno
<address.is.in.po... (AT) removethis (DOT) com.invalid> wrote:

As I understand it the topic involves the ability to walk up to any
computer, plug in a thumb drive, execute an onboard application, then
take the app and data away with you without leaving any residue.

A possible solution?

http://boxedapp.com

--
Kevin Powick

On Feb 26, 9:24*pm, dawn <dawnwolth... (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

I can do "one better"...

No thumb drive required...

No, just an Internet connection.

--
Kevin Powick

There are two environments that I know about for USB drives.

One is U3 and the other is PortableApps.

Both allow the user to develop applications that run solely on a USB drive
and are totally transportable.

Larry Hazel

"Kevin Powick" <kpowick (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

On Feb 26, 3:48 pm, Tony Gravagno
<address.is.in.po... (AT) removethis (DOT) com.invalid> wrote:

As I understand it the topic involves the ability to walk up to any
computer, plug in a thumb drive, execute an onboard application, then
take the app and data away with you without leaving any residue.

A possible solution?

http://boxedapp.com

--
Kevin Powick

On Feb 26, 8:47*pm, Kevin Powick <kpow... (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

On Feb 26, 9:24*pm, dawn <dawnwolth... (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

I can do "one better"...

No thumb drive required...

No, just an Internet connection.

Yup, and I'll grant that is not to be assumed.

BTW, the number of thumb drives I have lost is 3 and counting, dag nab
it, but there are still 3 somewhere among the purse, brief case for
laptop and backpack for netbook. Fortunately I don't lose my dbms when
I lose or misplace them. [Of course I can imagine apps where it made
sense to put a dbms on a thumb drive, but I can think of a lot more
where it wouldn't] cheers. --dawn

--
Kevin Powick

Larry wrote:

There are two environments that I know about for USB drives.
One is U3 and the other is PortableApps.

I provided links for info to both of those and more on 25-feb.

Here's another link to another wikipedia page that has a large section
on uses for USB drives.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thumb_drive

Not to Larry, more across the board here - I'm still surprised there
is confusion about the utility of portable drives. These and related
applications have been around for a decade... c'mon folks, catch up to
the decade.

Kevin wrote:

A possible solution? http://boxedapp.com

That looks neat. I wish I had time to do some R&D with that - demand
drives supply. Oh well.

T

I'm actually getting fairly bored with this topic but, if I am to
defend the QM stance on this.....

With the D3 approach described by an earlier responder, can multiple
users enter the application via a network still without installing
anything on the PC?

Ok, this wasn't in the original challenge but I'd be interested to
know.


Martin Phillips, Ladybridge Systems.

Martin Phillips wrote:

I'm actually getting fairly bored with this topic but,

My friend, I thought it was a non-discussion from the start. As there
are only a few discussions in this forum from which to choose, let's
milk it. LOL

if I am to defend the QM stance on this.....

With the D3 approach described by an earlier responder, can multiple
users enter the application via a network still without installing
anything on the PC?

Ok, this wasn't in the original challenge but I'd be interested to
know.
Martin Phillips, Ladybridge Systems.

I don't understand how the virtualization utilities work. Like other
MV platforms, D3 requires registry values, a single background
Service, disk space for D3 programs, disk space for data (not together
like QM), and it must be authorized to bind to sockets. It seems to
me that if some virtualization software allows the PC to recognize the
USB resources and allows processes like that to bind/run, etc, I don't
see why D3 would be different than any other application. I suspect
some virtualization products may do this better than others.

(The following underlies my own interest in this topic.) When I was
at Pick Systems in the late 90's I attempted to get them to recognize
the value of small systems as well as large. No one seemed interested
- at that time, even single-user D3 for laptops was regarded as not
worth pursuing. Personally I thought there was value to VARs in
having the ability to sell a thousand single user systems for mobile
applications (even off-the shelf apps at the local computer store)
compared to selling in the 10, 20, 50, 100, 1000 user space.. Today,
I don't think TigerLogic or most of the other MV DBMS companies are
interested in that kind of business, the reasoning being that it costs
more to support very small sites than larger ones.

I mention that because the question may not be whether D3 or other
DBMS products _can_ run from USB, but whether the DBMS companies will
support or nurture such a market. If they don't stand behind USB
drives as a viable, useful platform then developers won't be
encouraged to work with it. If that's the case then maybe QM has
well-earned exclusive access to this space. Play it up. Encourage
people to use the platform and to produce useful apps. If this space
isn't lucrative for QM user/developers then perhaps the other
companies have been right to ignore it.

Personally I think MV developers want to follow the lead of the MV
DBMS companies, so it's a self-fulfilling prophecy that these
platforms aren't supported/encouraged, therefore no one develops for
them. (Similarly, if Ladybridge encourages it people would probably
follow.) This isn't the case with other technologies where
developer/user demand frequently drives companies to follow trends.
Such is our lot.

T

Tony Gravagno wrote:
---

I don't understand how the virtualization utilities work. Like other
MV platforms, D3 requires registry values, a single background
Service, disk space for D3 programs, disk space for data (not together
like QM), and it must be authorized to bind to sockets. It seems to
me that if some virtualization software allows the PC to recognize the
USB resources and allows processes like that to bind/run, etc, I don't
see why D3 would be different than any other application. I suspect
some virtualization products may do this better than others.

I don't see how anything less than a full virtual machine can host a
services plus other os access without the conspiracy of the author. I
tried Ceedo to install a dbms (not QM!) and it needed some os facilities
in the install, which Ceedo didn't allow access to. Kevin P's boxedapp
sounds like an effective approach, if you are a dbms provider, but not
if just a customer.

---

> T