The concept behind AllMyApps.com is genius. This website lets you create a list of all the applications you already have installed on your computer and saves that list so that you can re-install those apps at any time with just one click. If you’re formatting your PC in order to install a new OS, like say Windows 7 for example, a service like this could definitely come in handy as major timesaver.
That being said, the website still needs work. It seems they’re suffering from bandwidth issues at the moment – when I tried them this morning, the site was painfully slow. In fact, I thought it was down. I also was sad to discover that a lot of my most frequently used applications weren’t listed. For example, a search for “Windows Live” didn’t return results for any of the free Windows Live tools like Live Writer, Live Messenger, etc. And the results it did return were puzzling – why on earth would “Foxit Reader” or “AudioShell” be returned for this query? Clearly the search engine needs work, too.
Another problem – and one that probably couldn’t be avoided – is that AllMyApps.com won’t list any commercial software. That means you can’t include your Microsoft Office software or Adobe Photoshop in your list. You’ll still need to install those separately. Obviously, the reason for this is because those are not free programs, so listing them here would be akin to privacy, but it’s a bit disappointing that there isn’t some sort of workaround provided. For example, why not let you list them, but then have the installer prompt you at the end to insert the CD? That would at least keep the app re-installation flow going and could serve as a useful reminder, too.
It’s too bad that there were these sorts of issues because the concept alone had me genuinely excited. For now, I’ll keep my eye on this one and hope that they address some of these problems in the future. However, based on their GetSatisfaction page, it appears the site has been running for nearly a year now, so I’m not getting my hopes up too high.
Does anyone know of a similar service? The only other one I could think of is Ninite, but that’s really limited in their selection. And the only Microsoft app on the list is Messenger. I would want to install the entire Windows Live suite. If you know of something better, please tell me in the comments!
