keith_sa
07-18-2008, 10:55 AM
This is the first in a series of mini-reviews I'm planning on doing about software that I found useful. This one is on my all time favorite, Ceedo.
At one time or another, we’ve all used somebody else’s computer to edit a document, type a letter, draft a report, edit or create an image, burn a CD, or whatever. We’ve sat ourselves down at the keyboard, clicked the start menu, hovered the mouse pointer over the “All Programs” menu, and searched in vain for the one application that we need to do the task at hand only to be confronted with an unfamiliar list of programs. “Where is Microsoft Word?” we ask ourselves. Or Paintshop Pro, or, or, or … They just aren’t there. That’s when we realize that not everyone uses the same software we do.
It is at such times that we wish we could carry our own applications around with us wherever we go, and take them from one Windows PC to another. Well, the good news is you can do just this. “How?” you ask. “What do I need to make this happen?” The answer is simple. All you need are a portable drive, either a USB flash drive or a USB hard drive, and Ceedo Personal.
There is a huge selection of portable drives out there. You can buy them just about anywhere these days; Staples, Walmart, Circuit City, Best Buy, and so on and so forth. Ceedo, however, you have to look for. You can either download a fully functional time limited trial from http://ceedo.com, or you can purchase Ceedo preinstalled on portable drives from Pleomax, Seagate, Verbatim, Lexar, and others.
Ceedo is a desktop virtualization platform that allows you to install applications on a USB drive just as you would install them on your home PC or laptop. The difference here is that your PC stays at home, your laptop is big, heavy and clunky, and your portable drive slips neatly into your pocket, making it easier to carry around.
I’ve been using Ceedo for a little over a year now, and have seen the application improve steadily over this time. When I first started using Ceedo, application support was somewhat spotty. Microsoft Office wasn’t supported at all, and it was hit-and-miss to get applications that were not listed in the “compatible software list” to install and run correctly in Ceedo. Now, though, you can install and run just about anything in Ceedo, including Microsoft Office 2000, XP, 2003 and 2007. I’m using Word 2007 installed on my Ceedo drive to write this review. There are a few exceptions such as .NET applications, but .NET support is slated for the next release. Ceedo supports literally hundreds of programs.
Another gripe I used to ahve about Ceedo was that it didn’t support installing your own applications out of box and if you wanted to install applications, you were restricted to the applications in Ceedo’s Programs Directory, which can be found at http://ceedoready.com. To install your “own” applications, you had to purchase an add-on called Argo, which is the Ceedo application installer for an additional $20. Ceedo have since changed their licensing policy, and now Ceedo and Argo are bundled into a single license, which saves you money.
Ceedo really is a great application to have in your software arsenal. You don’t need admin privileges on the host machine to run Ceedo and your installed applications. Granted, some applications with a .msi installer do require admin privileges on the host machine in order to be installed, but once installed, they do not require admin privileges to run. Also, with Ceedo you don’t leave any traces behind on the host PC. All of your temporary files, cookies, bookmarks, application settings, etc, stay on your Ceedo drive, and do not leave traces behind on the host PC.
Ceedo also has an add-on called Backup & Restore, which enables you to backup your entire Ceedo drive or just the files in your Ceedo My Documents folder to your home PC or laptop so that you can restore the complete drive or just your personal files in the event of catastrophe.
I can honestly say that Ceedo is the most useful application I have ever purchased. I would strongly recommend Ceedo to anybody who has computing portability in mind.
At one time or another, we’ve all used somebody else’s computer to edit a document, type a letter, draft a report, edit or create an image, burn a CD, or whatever. We’ve sat ourselves down at the keyboard, clicked the start menu, hovered the mouse pointer over the “All Programs” menu, and searched in vain for the one application that we need to do the task at hand only to be confronted with an unfamiliar list of programs. “Where is Microsoft Word?” we ask ourselves. Or Paintshop Pro, or, or, or … They just aren’t there. That’s when we realize that not everyone uses the same software we do.
It is at such times that we wish we could carry our own applications around with us wherever we go, and take them from one Windows PC to another. Well, the good news is you can do just this. “How?” you ask. “What do I need to make this happen?” The answer is simple. All you need are a portable drive, either a USB flash drive or a USB hard drive, and Ceedo Personal.
There is a huge selection of portable drives out there. You can buy them just about anywhere these days; Staples, Walmart, Circuit City, Best Buy, and so on and so forth. Ceedo, however, you have to look for. You can either download a fully functional time limited trial from http://ceedo.com, or you can purchase Ceedo preinstalled on portable drives from Pleomax, Seagate, Verbatim, Lexar, and others.
Ceedo is a desktop virtualization platform that allows you to install applications on a USB drive just as you would install them on your home PC or laptop. The difference here is that your PC stays at home, your laptop is big, heavy and clunky, and your portable drive slips neatly into your pocket, making it easier to carry around.
I’ve been using Ceedo for a little over a year now, and have seen the application improve steadily over this time. When I first started using Ceedo, application support was somewhat spotty. Microsoft Office wasn’t supported at all, and it was hit-and-miss to get applications that were not listed in the “compatible software list” to install and run correctly in Ceedo. Now, though, you can install and run just about anything in Ceedo, including Microsoft Office 2000, XP, 2003 and 2007. I’m using Word 2007 installed on my Ceedo drive to write this review. There are a few exceptions such as .NET applications, but .NET support is slated for the next release. Ceedo supports literally hundreds of programs.
Another gripe I used to ahve about Ceedo was that it didn’t support installing your own applications out of box and if you wanted to install applications, you were restricted to the applications in Ceedo’s Programs Directory, which can be found at http://ceedoready.com. To install your “own” applications, you had to purchase an add-on called Argo, which is the Ceedo application installer for an additional $20. Ceedo have since changed their licensing policy, and now Ceedo and Argo are bundled into a single license, which saves you money.
Ceedo really is a great application to have in your software arsenal. You don’t need admin privileges on the host machine to run Ceedo and your installed applications. Granted, some applications with a .msi installer do require admin privileges on the host machine in order to be installed, but once installed, they do not require admin privileges to run. Also, with Ceedo you don’t leave any traces behind on the host PC. All of your temporary files, cookies, bookmarks, application settings, etc, stay on your Ceedo drive, and do not leave traces behind on the host PC.
Ceedo also has an add-on called Backup & Restore, which enables you to backup your entire Ceedo drive or just the files in your Ceedo My Documents folder to your home PC or laptop so that you can restore the complete drive or just your personal files in the event of catastrophe.
I can honestly say that Ceedo is the most useful application I have ever purchased. I would strongly recommend Ceedo to anybody who has computing portability in mind.