Closed Bug 226848 Opened 21 years ago Closed 2 months ago

Iomega USB drive distribution program

Categories

(Marketing :: Business Development, task, P3)

x86
Windows XP

Tracking

(Not tracked)

RESOLVED INACTIVE

People

(Reporter: chofmann, Assigned: rebron)

References

Details

Attachments

(1 file)

I bought an Iomega USB drive last night ($40 for 128MB with rebate at fry's --
get'em while their hot) and notice they have a very interesting offering..

A special installation of Open Office is available that you can download,
install on, and run off the USB diskdrive.  We should figure out a contact at
Iomega and see what is needed to get in this program as another distribution
mechanism.  

Several folks at COMDEX commented on how they run Mozilla in just this way and
pack along all their browser and mail settings and data, and can plug the USB
drive into any computer anywhere and have access to all their data for browsing
and mail data and preferences anytime, anywhere.

Asa also has done some fiddling with this to get mozilla up and running on a USB
drive I think..

We ought to think about what it would take to package something together and
make a pitch to Iomega, or just offer it a general purpose offering/option that
could work with any USB drive from any manufacture.

More info on the Iomega program at http://www.iomega-activedisk.com/landing.jsp

What is Active Disk™? 
Iomega® Active Disk™ allows your software applications to run everywhere you do.
Stay mobile and organized with Active Disk Powered titles that live on, launch
and run directly from your Iomega Mini USB drive. Insert the disk, and your
application launches automatically. When finished, simply eject, and everything
is saved to your secure Iomega Mini USB drive. Portable, easy, and secure - and
it won't clutter your hard drive.
download Active Disk titles

Active Disk enabled OpenOffice.org1.1.0
It's here, it's portable and one of the more popular Active Disk enabled Open
Source titles available. OpenOffice.org1.1.0 has been Active Disk enabled. This
is not a trial or shareware version which expires in 30 days.
OpenOffice.org1.1.0 is licensed under GNU and GPL licenses, which means it is
readily available for your use as soon as you download and install it. Ever
wanted take your business/personal productivity suite with you wherever you go?
Tired of working on somebody's elses computer that has different personal
options setup in their spreadsheet, word processor, HTML editor, or presentation
application? Well, look no further, with Active Disk enabled OpenOffice.org, you
can take all four applications with you on your Iomega disk or drive. (Works
great on Iomega Mini USB 2.0 drives.) Run your OpenOffice.org suite at home,
work or play with Active Disk enabled OpenOffice.org1.1.0. Download your Active
Disk enabled OpenOffice.org1.1.0 today!!!
(Not suggested for use on 128mb or smaller capacity media or drives.) 
Download Active Disk enabled OpenOffice.org1.1.0 

Active Disk enabled Preclick Photo Organizer
Preclick is the world's easiest and fastest way to find and organize your
digital photos on your Iomega Mini USB drive. In addition to the fastest find,
sort, slideshow, editing and email tools, Preclick offers Kodak prints at great
prices. It's free and the only photo software you will ever need.. Preclick with
Active Disk support can reside on a Zip disk, Mini USB drive or any other type
of removable media making it easy to share your digital photo collection with
your friends and family.
Download Active Disk enabled Preclick Photo Organizer

Active Disk enabled PocoMail Portable Edition
PocoMail Portable Edition will allow you take your mail anywhere with you, but
more importantly, it will keep it safe. All the mail is stored on the removable
media, so no traces of it are left on the computer when you are finished. It's
quick as no install and uninstall is necessary. And it's more powerful than
webmail while at the same time giving you more protection - if you have to login
to your webmail account your password may be captured by the computer browser or
potentially key-logging software that silently monitors keyboard input. PocoMail
Portable Edition stores your encrypted password (optional) on the removable
media, so you will never have to enter it on a potentially unfriendly computer,
for example in a cybercafe.
Download Active Disk enabled PocoMail Portable Edition


Active Disk enabled MusicMatch Jukebox
MusicMatch Jukebox is an all-in-one digital music management software tool that
includes a multiformat media player, an MP3 encoder, a CD ripper and burner, and
an integrated online music service. Insert your MusicMatch Jukebox Active Disk
and use all the features you have come to love. Remove the Disk or device and it
all goes away and travels with you to you next stop. Go portable with the
MusicMatch Jukebox Active Disk. 

Download Active Disk enabled MusicMatch Jukebox




Mini Lock Software (PC 2000, ME and XP)
Iomega® Mini Lock software gives you additional control over the data stored on
your Iomega Mini USB drive. You can create a password protected secure area,
called a Privacy Zone, on your Iomega Mini USB drive.
download 

Mini Control Panel Software (PC 2000, ME and XP)
Iomega® Mini Control Panel gives you all of the tools you need to readily view
and manage the data on your Iomega Mini USB drive. You can customize your Iomega
Mini USB drive to make it more personal and easy to use.
download
I think to do this for mail at least, we need to get rid of the absolute
directory paths in our profiles. 

This means fixing 137006 for mail. Adding the dependency. Although the patch is
probably too risky right now unless we really make a strong push for this. 

Also, isn't there an issue with these USB drives that you can only write to them
so many times? They use Flash right? If your mail profile is on a USB device, we
would be constantly writing to it as you read messages, reply to messages, etc.
That's something to look into to.
Depends on: 137006
I poked around on the iomega site for info about the number of times the device
can be written to and wasn't able to find anything

http://www.iomega.com/na/products/product_family.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=3037523&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=63191&bmUID=1037288274744

there is a support number there and a developer program that we could sign up
for to get more info.

no bad comments about pocomail users running into write limitations, but the
formum set up for that has little traffic..
Priority: -- → P3
I bought somemore UBS drives and I'm going though them to see if any have
programs like Iomega.  So far they seem to be the only with a program for
software distribution talyored to the UBS drive.

on a slightly related topic...
when creating the next CD layout we should make that easily convertable to the
smallest UBS drive dritro..  that would mean putting source tarballs under
another  directory tree...

this list still consumes 184 MB's, but would allow installation of
seamonkey,firebird, and thunderbird on just about any system...

.
./mozilla
./mozilla/mozilla1.5
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/README.txt
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/windows
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/windows/mozilla-installer.exe
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux/MPL-1.1.txt
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux/README
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux/config.ini
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux/installer.ini
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux/mozilla-installer
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux/mozilla-installer-bin
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux/xpi
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux/xpi/browser.xpi
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux/xpi/chatzilla.xpi
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux/xpi/deflenus.xpi
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux/xpi/inspector.xpi
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux/xpi/langenus.xpi
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux/xpi/mail.xpi
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux/xpi/psm.xpi
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux/xpi/regus.xpi
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux/xpi/spellcheck.xpi
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux/xpi/talkback.xpi
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux/xpi/venkman.xpi
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/linux/xpi/xpcom.xpi
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/MacOSX
./mozilla/mozilla1.5/MacOSX/mozilla-mac-MachO.dmg
./mozilla/technology preview
./mozilla/technology preview/firebird
./mozilla/technology preview/firebird/windows
./mozilla/technology preview/firebird/windows/MozillaFirebird-win32-0.7.zip
./mozilla/technology preview/firebird/linux-gtk2-xft
./mozilla/technology
preview/firebird/linux-gtk2-xft/MozillaFirebird-i686-linux-gtk2+xft-0.7.tar.gz
./mozilla/technology preview/firebird/linux
./mozilla/technology
preview/firebird/linux/MozillaFirebird-i686-pc-linux-gnu-0.7.tar.gz
./mozilla/technology preview/firebird/MacOSX
./mozilla/technology preview/firebird/MacOSX/Firebird-mac-0.7.dmg
./mozilla/technology preview/thunderbird
./mozilla/technology preview/thunderbird/windows
./mozilla/technology preview/thunderbird/windows/thunderbird-win32-0.3.zip
./mozilla/technology preview/thunderbird/linux
./mozilla/technology
preview/thunderbird/linux/thunderbird-i686-pc-linux-gnu-0.3.tar.bz2
./mozilla/technology preview/thunderbird/MacOSX
./mozilla/technology preview/thunderbird/MacOSX/thunderbird-macosx-0.3.dmg
./manifest
cc'ing david so he can read the bug
OK, here's word from Iomega:

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Iomega Active Disk
Date: 	Tue, 9 Dec 2003 23:53:48 -0700
From: 	Jeff Rifleman <Rifleman@iomega.com>
To: 	<bart@mozilla.org>


Hello Bart,

My name is Jeff Rifleman. I manage the iomega-activedisk.com site and have
reviewed your input:

"Hi there, I coordinate marketing and business affairs for the Mozilla
Foundation. We'd love to work with Iomega to distribute Mozilla products in much
the same way that you currently distribute OpenOffice. Can you provide me with a
name and contact information for the appropriate person to discuss this with?
Thanks, Bart Decrem 650-387-0625 bart@mozilla.org"

The OpenOffice.org application that is available for download from our site is
Active Disk enabled. In other words, a user can run the application from Iomega
media without installing the application on the host computer. A user inserts an
Iomega device and the application launches. Active Disk handles all the registry
settings. When the user quits the registry settings are reset and no trace of
the application is left on the host computer. This makes applications truly
portable. We have had alot of interest in the OpenOffice.org application and it
is one of the top download from our site. 

An independent developer submitted OpenOffice.org to our site after Active Disk
enabling the software title. Currently, the Active Disk enabled title is only
available as a download through the iomega-activedisk.com site.

Mozilla applications also would make exellent Active Disk titles. Web browsing
and email apps are very personal and users would love to have them portable.
These would be exciting to have on our site as for our users to download and use
as portable applications. 

I would suggest that you invite a couple of your lead developers sign up on the
developer site and make it a project to Active Disk enable Firebird and
Thunderbird for Windows. I would be more than happy to host the final titles on
our site. 

If you need assistance with how to enable these apps, or would like a 'fast
track' to have them enabled, we have outside resources that could help also.
Just let me know. Feel free to pass this information along to your developers.

To sign up as a developer and download the SDK:

http://developer.iomega-activedisk.com


Thanks for your reply,

Jeff Rifleman
Web Producer
e-Business Group
Iomega Corporation
www.iomega.com
rifleman@iomega.com
I've made this bug public.  If anyone feels it should be private, feel free to
mark is marketing-private again.
Group: Marketing Private
There are really two scenarios to focus on here:

1) I want to store my profile on a USB device where the drive letter can change.
But the app sits on my hard drive

2) I want a USB installation of a mozilla app including bits and profile data. 

I'll focus on work for this second issue. Here's what I think needs to happen
after brainstorming with  Asa yesterday.

1) Modify mozregistry.dat to handle relative paths to profiles when possible.
You can't always do this because some users pick a path on a different drive
from mozregistry.dat, so you could not be relative to that.

2) When the app starts up, have it look for a mozregistry.dat relative to it's
current location and use it if it finds one. Otherwise, fall back to the default
documents and settings location. This is needed in order to make it easy to plug
the usb device into another machine and when launching the app have us detect
the profiles by finding this version of mozregistry.dat.

This assumes that you had folders setup like the following on the USB device:

f:\Mozilla\Thunderbird
f:\Mozilla\Thunderbird Profiles\mozregistry.dat
f:\Mozilla\Thunderbird Profiles\<salted profile directories>

repeat for firebird/seamonkey/etc.

3) As an added bonus, this scheme would make it possible to just copy this stuff
around between say your desktop and your laptop. Just grab the top level folder,
drag it and you are up and running. Gee, sounds like an OSX app.

I think David had some ideas which may be simpler than this. I'll let him chime in.



Please indicate bug numbers for these issues (e.g. mozregistry.dat)
I heard from pch that the *bird apps were heading towards single-profile. I
would encourage that (while keeping some of the profile-migration code). It
would make this bug *much* easier to solve (and would remove the icky dependency
on mozregistry.dat). At that point, the aviary would probably not need any
registry settings at all to run from a zipdrive.
Depends on: 229596
bsmedberg: unforunately that's a false rumor. Thunderbird will always support
multiple profiles. But your right, that sure would make things easier.
mscott: you can still support multiple profiles with a single-profile build; you
just can't use the profile-picker UI or do profile-switching. What I was
thinking of doing is a separate little application to do profile selection
before starting the main application. The advantage of the single-profile build
scenario is that we can put compreg/xpti/chrome cache into the profile.
Any news on this?
I would like to see this as a portable application. the .dat file is not a 
problem. The Active Disk developer kit allows the moving of this file to the 
user's system, then removal of it on end.
Mozilla, browser only, installs to a USB drive for me just fine, and launches 
after installation.  However, after removing the USB drive, rebooting the 
machine, and reinserting the drive I am unable to start mozilla.  No output at 
all from either starting it in GUI or from a command line.  The drive letter 
has not changed, so that isnt the problem.  I am unsure what else might cause 
this, but I thought this information could be relevant to the discussion.
i'm presuming you're on windows, in which case i'd ask for logs from: filemon, 
regmon, and depends (there's a doc about dependency walker on www.mozilla.org), 
a single zip w/ .log, .log, .dwi would be fine.
asa, any updates from your resent research on how one company seems to be doing
this?
I couldn't see what they were up to. Basically, they wrote a launcher app that
sits in front of Mozilla and handles all the profile location business. I'm
happy to do more investigation but I'm not sure how much I'll be able to
discover or where to start, really.
Perhaps it's a separate bug, but see also this:

<http://www.cs.sjsu.edu/faculty/pollett/masters/Semesters/Spring04/Yun/index.shtml?CS297Proposal.shtml>

She must be shy or busy, because I haven't had an email response after
waiting some little time. The lecturer's responsive, though. Note also
the convenient geographic area and timeframe. I think she's got a day
job and reads yahoo mail rarely.

- N.
new contact:
Tamra Hamblin
Web Operations Manager
Iomega Corporation
801-332-3592 office
801-332-4290 fax

Working with her as she steps in for Jeff.
Assignee: bart → rebron
Not sure if anyone is still interested in this bug or not, but Portable Firefox
and Portable Thunderbird pretty much fits the bill for the desired
functionality.  It would just need to be packaged up in an Active Disk
installer/executable.

http://portablefirefox.mozdev.org/
http://portablethunderbird.mozdev.org/

If this is from a Business Development prospective, I was under the impression
that the Active Disk technologies had been receiving far less interest as cheap
USB thumbdrives from multiple manufacturers have supplanted Iomega's ZIP disk in
the marketplace (what Active Disk was originally developed for).
I don't know the logistics of such a thing but how about a dedicated USB drive
for fire fox and even Thunderbird the attachment is a very rough jpeg of what
it could look like. I had envisaged it made of the plastic that cheap toys are
made from and quite cylindrcle, allbeit very shallow, but with the top slightly
3Dimentional inkeeping with the Fire Fox logo. The Thunderbird logo could be on
the other side.

I hope you see what I mean.

At first I thought if it was cheap enough to produce they could go in cereal
boxes as a free gift like other toys but I'm pretty sure this is a step too
far. Correct me if i'm wrong.
(In reply to comment #20)

I do think it is a little too far.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 2 months ago
Resolution: --- → INACTIVE
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