How unmanageable!
A consultant working at the client’s site may wish to bring the home office on a laptop, but wise and security conscientious IT departments usually ban the connection of “unmanaged” laptops to the company LAN. (An unmanaged system being one that does not run the standard company “image”. While the consultant may indeed be wearing a suit in support of his own image, there is no disguising the fact that his hard drive is not well dressed: may not have the client’s anti-virus software, may not have the client’s preferred applications, and may not be fully patched with Seattle’s Best critical updates.)

One way around this may be a secure link to the home PC (Hamachi and VNC, perhaps) and another may be a cellular link to your SOHO via EVDO (in the US) or Inukshuk (in Canada). Another option is the ubiquitous memory stick, but until recently these have only been good for loading, unloading, and perhaps syncing data files. There was no way to run Skype or an IM client, for example.

Recently a number of clever, mostly open source, developers started figuring out ways to load applications onto memory sticks . Some even load whole operating systems; i.e., Linux . The present commercial state of the art has SanDisk (and other partners) implementing one standard for applications on a stick (U3) and Lexar doing the same on its own with PowerToGo.

PowerToGo: the more “Open” choice
After some background reading I decided on the Lexar Lightning because it seemed to offer a more open system. With it’s InstallAnything^TM software it promises to enable users to install their own selection of software where U3 is limited to a specific (although growing) list of applications already converted for use on compatible memory sticks. After noticing that OpenOffice was not one of Lexar’s existing PowerToGo offerings I downloaded the OO package from PortableApps.com. This worked fine until I added a link to the PowerToGo menu. Instead of simply executing the linked file PowerToGo complained that I should have used InstallAnything^TM and refused to run OO. I had no problems if I clicked on the program itself. While I may have been quite happy to pay $30 US for InstallAnything^TM I was not happy to receive false error messages. I’ll give Creedo, the creators of PowerToGo and InstallAnything^TM, the benefit of the doubt on this. There should be some warning if a self-installed package fails, but perhaps they didn’t consider the geeks who are capable of successfully installing packages on their own.

Beware of old reviews
The second issue I had with the Lexar Lightning was the lack of synchronization software. All the reviews I had read on the Lightning had mentioned the ease of use of synchronization and I have been having problems with very large folders when using Windows Briefcase for this, so I had been looking forward to a kinder, gentler sync. But apparently there were conflicts with the new PowerToGo system so existing synchronization software had to go. This issue is still with Lexar tech support and, depending on the model of my Lightning, I may be able to use the sync package after all. I’ll update this post after they have assessed the model data I sent in.

Another trivial point: My Lightning did not come with the polishing cloth promised in the old reviews of this beautiful techno-jewelry.

Beware of PCMCIA USB 2.0 cards
The greatest disappointment, however, is the failure of the Lexar Lightning to work with my laptop’s Belkin USB 2.0 card bus PCMCIA card. When plugged in, the Lightning may make an attempt to load PowerToGo, but dies and corrupts files that are part of PowerToGo when it unexpectedly disconnects. My technical intuition is that it may be a power issue. Regular memory sticks have no problem with my Belkin PCMCIA card. The Lightning has no problem with the USB 1.0 ports on the same laptop. I do notice the pretty blue Lightning indicator light flickered more dimly when I attempted to run it from the PCMCIA card. The Belkin card does actually have a socket for a power supply… inconvenient, but perhaps necessary.

No Free Backup
Given the file corruption problem with the PCMCIA card, the lack of a free backup tool for the Lexar Lightning is annoying. The cost for this ‘application’ is $10 (US). Even Windows XP Home has a built-in backup utility (if you can find it hidden on the install disk). I can see the need for backing up the Lightning’s full configuration and I feel it should be included in the basic package.

Summary
All in all I’d say the Lexar Lightning is not quite ready for prime time. I could have done almost as much with open source on a standard memory stick at less cost. While InstallAnything^TM is a more “open” option than running a finite list of U3 applications it should be more amenable to the use of independent applications like those on PortableApps.com.

PowerToGo does let portable consultants run apps from a slick interface on a memory stick when client workstation policies don’t permit non-standard program installation, but the loss of a nice synchronization interface is almost too high a price to pay. Consultants do, after all, need to take their work home with them. Sync and backup are basic needs.

Whatever the issues are with the use of a PCMCIA USB 2.0 card may be unique to those of us portable consultants who continue to work with old laptops. I guess there is no reason not to have a notebook with built-in USB 2.0 ports now that the effects of the Internet Bubble are behind us and the market is busy once again.

Cheers,
-pmh