Subject: [.plan] Portable, free, cross-platform applications
From: Boris Kraut <[email-masked]>
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2013 21:22:29 +0100

Aus der README eines meiner Projekte, im Grunde geht es um die
simple Frage, was man auf einem "typischen" Rechner als Standard
voraussetzen kann. "Typisch", das heisst es wird nicht das sein,
wie ich arbeite oder was ich mir wuensche. TLDR-Version: Browser.
Achja, sorry fuer das schlechte Englisch:

Giving talks and workshops at educational institutions taught me
one thing: You can't rely on anything. Rooms have to be swapped
with other classes. Hardware malfunctions, got upgraded or is not
to be found in time. Software is outdated and not installed on all
available PCs. It's a mess...

Using your own hardware/software is not an option: Even if you can
access the local network and internet connection, there is no point
in showing off tools that your students/pupils cannot use. This
leaves us with either portable apps or using remote software services.

Portable apps are nice to have, if you can assume, that you only have
Windows clients. Web apps on the other hand often require an Internet
connection or are non free/libre services.

So what we need are programs, that..

 ..are free software.
 ..do not require a network connection or installation.
 ..can be run right off an thumbdrive.
 ..can be run on any major operating system.

So the list essentially narrows down to HTML5 and JS based "apps" or
local webpages -- this is what Mozilla calls "packaged apps" with the
additional constrain that no FirefoxOS specific code should be used.
All packages should provide ways to run stand-alone.