For those folks trapped using Windows here’s a really nice way to get access to all those free open-source applications in such a way that you don’t have to install them on your computer to be able to use them.

These can just be copied onto a USB memory stick and (apparently) run directly from there – you can even save your documents onto it, unplug it and move it to another computer and your virtual office should follow you!

The Portable Applications site has a heap of applications built for this, including:

• Firefox for state of the art web browsing
• OpenOffice.Org 2.0.2 for Office documents
• Thunderbird for email.
• Gimp for digital art

and much much more!