Portable Apps

I've always thought I'd be more organized with a PDA or smartphone but a couple of things have always keep me from getting one. First I'm to cheep to buy something I "think" I might use, and second I would loose or forget it so often as to be impractical. On an average week, my current cellphone spends about 2 weekdays and all weekend just sitting on my nightstand where it is of use to nobody. Now on the other hand my USB key comes with me everywhere I go, not because I think I need 256MB of storage where ever I go but because it is attached to my key chain and I can't get back into my house without it. This is where portable apps come in. A portable app is an computer application that does not need to be installed and configured to run, allowing it to run directly from a USB or other portable storage device. Most single .exe files will fall under this category, so things like Notepad2 would be included. However what impresses me the most is at Portableapps.com there is an entire library of application that normally would require installation but have been wraped in a launcher that allows them to be run directly from USB this include Firefox, Openoffice, Sunbird (mozilla calendar client), and Thunderbird (mozilla email client). equipped with this software my $20 USB drive becomes an 80% solution for a $300 PDA. Another way to look at it is; instead of just carrying your documents with you, know you can garentee that you have the ability to open them.