In windows, most software would need an installing before usage yet some can be opened directly. For example, Blender is a 3D software that can be downloaded in two forms: one that can be installed and the other in “portable” form that can be directly used even when it’s inside a flashdisk. How can this be so? Why not all software require installation or not?
In: Technology
A lot of software piggybacks off of resources that already exist in your OS. They don’t need to rewrite how to read a file every time, they can just use a library that exists on the OS. But because it can be a little different on every variant of every patch of every version of the OS, it needs to do some logic to link to the proper library each time.
The standalone version just packages those libraries with it, but those are extra space that technically isn’t needed.
In addition, these days proper software separates the executable code files from the configuration files. The code files will be somewhere in Program Files on Windows, and the config files will be per-user in the Users[Username]AppData folder. The portable version is intended to be on a USB stick, and to store its config files in the same path so that they are also carried along in the USB Stick.
Latest Answers