Re: Portable AbiWord

On Tue, 10 Jan 2006, John T. Haller wrote:

> Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 10:16:55 -0500
> From: John T. Haller <abiword@johnhaller.com>
> To: AbiWord Developer Mailing List <abiword-dev@abisource.com>
> Subject: Re: Portable AbiWord
>
>
> Alan Horkan wrote:
>
> > If you were to build Abiword using Microsoft Visual C++ you are likely to
> > get a smaller binary and you could compress the whole thing.
> >
> > I'm sure abiword has grown since 1.0 but if I recall correctly mingwin
> > does produce a larger binary. In the past all I had to do to make a
> > portable abiword was UPX compress a single binary and slap it on a floppy
> > disk.
>
> I'd like to avoid a recompile, actually.

If I didn't think the difference would be substantial I wouldn't have
mentioned it. Anyone seriously concerned about size should try it out.

> > Nice to have more interest in Abiword.
>
> There have been a number of positive reviews of it. It lends itself
> perfectly to those that have smaller USB thumbdrives and can't, for
> instance, use a full copy of OpenOffice.org (the portable version of
> which weighs in at 144MB...
> comparison, the portable version of AbiWord weighs in at a bit over 14MB.

> > You probably should not be using the copyright A-Swoosh artwork without
> > the express permission of the owner - namely Dom Lachowicz - especially

> Anyone know how I can get in touch with Dom directly?

Dom is on the list and will probably reply to your message in due course.
You might also try going to irc.gnome.org#abiword and if he is not too
busy he might be able to tell you if he is okay with your use of the
artwork. (Alternatively you can easily find one of his addresses in the
mailing list archives http://www.abisource.com/mailinglists/ )

> I haven't actually gotten any donations for Portable AbiWord itself and
> if the link is an issue I can remove it.
>
> http://portableapps.com/apps/office/word_processors/portable_abiword

I'm sure something can be arranged, I doubt it will be a big deal.

> Ultimately, I'm hoping to increase the exposure on some of the
> less-well-known apps that can be portable (like AbiWord) and, hopefully,
> increase their donations, code contributions, developer pool, etc.

All good!

> > Abiword was happy to welcome Maemo into the fold, and perhaps the
> > developers might also decide to provide an official build of Portable
> > Abiword (I'm not sure but in the past UPX compressed builds of just the
> > exe may have been provided, but I'm not sure if anyone is doing nightly
> > builds anymore but if they are I'm sure I'll be promptly corrected.)
>
> Maemo? AbiWord runs on a mobile phone?

Internet tablet, it doesn't include a phone I expect (iirc) it has
bluetooth to connect to your existing phone.

> That's cool. Why isn't that on the AbiWord site?

It is around somewhere, I think ... :$

> > U3? I misread that as U2 for a minute and thought they had expanded from
> > just promoting iPods.
>
> U3 is a new 'platform' for running portable applications from
> specialized USB thumbdrives being pushed by M-Systems and Sandisk. They
> contracted me to adapt open source software to work on their platform.
> I accepted and put some of my web application development stuff on hold
> as I think it's an excellent opportunity to showcase open source
> software to a new audience... especially regular business folks.

> > Thanks for helping promote Abiword.
>
> No problem. The more people we have using apps like AbiWord, the better.

Sincerely

Alan Horkan.

Inkscape http://inkscape.org
Abiword http://www.abisource.com
Dia http://gnome.org/projects/dia/
Open Clip Art http://OpenClipArt.org

Alan's Diary http://advogato.org/person/AlanHorkan/
Received on Tue Jan 10 17:40:56 2006