An open source app store is in the works

[jes]

An open source app store is in the works

Linux vendors look to improve user experience with a common Linux app store.

 

[TwoCents1000]

Extremely slim chance of this working.

Linux has one huge disadvantage (which is also its great advantage!); there are as many 'standards' as there are people who are willing to spin their own version.

Why is the Apple iStore the best of them all? Because Apple controls every single aspect about it. This is contra- everything the open source community stands for.

But with all this freedom comes the caveat that software installs are not just a click-and-install.

Let's not even mention the chance that your installed aps will survive an OS upgrade.

 

[MyWorld]

I'm not so sure how I should welcome this, with open arms or a baseball bat...
What this is going to do is force the use of only a set couple of standards, and if you want to use the app store, then you have to do like we tell you do.

For now the vision is to create a unified interface for finding Linux applications. This doesn't mean that applications will use the same packaging format but simply that consolidated lists of applications will be available.

All packages are available on all distros, BUT not all are the same essentially. VLC (just putting a name out there, may be a number of packages) may have a few patches in Arch Linux to make it play nice or better with their kernel while Ubuntu has a different set of patches to meet their needs.
By creating a centralized app store you are trying to force Linux into a standard, we all need to use the same (or basically the same) kernel, our config files will need to be to a set standard, installation paths will need to be standardized.

The more I think about this the more I see myself reaching for that baseball bat...

 

[Pitbull]

:erm:

Let me get this right, Open source (Free) software will be sold in an online store?

 

[Vegeta]

The more I think about this the more I see myself reaching for that baseball bat...

Dont be silly guys. A big limitation of linux has always been the fragmentation and fiddlyness of installing things that work for that specifiec distro and version.

Bringing distros inline will mean developers can focus on the product rather than patches to make it work for this distro and that one.
Quality of apps will surely improve because developers will immediately cater for all distros with one release and wont have to tear their hair out because of a tiny little glitch with a specific distro. The user base for one app will immediately increase as every distro is now able to install and use it, this will provide linux with the power it needs the power to make it worth while for developers to develop for linux. And Open source isn't the alpha and omega, not alot of game developers will develop for linux plainly because its too fragmented and targeting for example only one distro is not worth the effort. If the user base is now the entire linux community regardless of distro things might change as it might just become worth their while. Linux needs to become more commercial they dont need more geeks they have enough of those already.

 

[Vegeta]

:erm:

Let me get this right, Open source (Free) software will be sold in an online store?

No man if its open source and free it will be free in the "online store". If its not open source and costs money than sure it will cost just like it does now.

 

[ingeon]

The one thing I dislike about Ubuntu Software centre (not Synaptic) is it does not display the size of the package that has to be downloaded.
Hopefully they won`t do this with the "software store"

 

[dabbler]

Let me get this right, Open source (Free) software will be sold in an online store?

No. Most Android apps are free, but some can be bought. Similar process I would imagine.

 

[Avenue]

The one thing I dislike about Ubuntu Software centre (not Synaptic) is it does not display the size of the package that has to be downloaded.
Hopefully they won`t do this with the "software store"

I see they added the size thing in 10.10

 

[milomak]

not buying this

 

[Fudzy]

Isn't this what those software libraries have been offering for years?

 

[Cadavre777]

What a silly idea, this just introduces more problems than it fixes.

The problems I see coming are:
1. A common mechanism to manage licenses.
2. The API will also have to account for dependancies.
3. Purchased apps will have to work out of the box (this is tricky given the flexibilty of the platform).
4. Will require ant-piracy mechanisms.

The cons start weigh in heavily against such a service. Does linux really need an app store. I could see this working for the main BSD's, just not linux.

 

[Bismuth]

Isn't this what those software libraries have been offering for years?

I was thinking along the same lines, when I need something, I either use synpatic on the command line, or if I am lazy, the GUI, and download it. The package managers in the various distros does just this already, how is an app store going to make it better. These package managers also resolve dependencies, would like to know how the app store would handle this.

I am not so sure of this working, due to the many reasons already mentioned here.

B

 

[Necksy]

There's something wrong with this picture. what is open about selling software online?

 

[MyWorld]

Dont be silly guys. A big limitation of linux has always been the fragmentation and fiddlyness of installing things that work for that specifiec distro and version.

Bringing distros inline will mean developers can focus on the product rather than patches to make it work for this distro and that one.
Quality of apps will surely improve because developers will immediately cater for all distros with one release and wont have to tear their hair out because of a tiny little glitch with a specific distro. The user base for one app will immediately increase as every distro is now able to install and use it, this will provide linux with the power it needs the power to make it worth while for developers to develop for linux. And Open source isn't the alpha and omega, not alot of game developers will develop for linux plainly because its too fragmented and targeting for example only one distro is not worth the effort. If the user base is now the entire linux community regardless of distro things might change as it might just become worth their while. Linux needs to become more commercial they dont need more geeks they have enough of those already.

Well. that is open to debate, fragmentation has been the saving grace of Linux in the security sector all these years, and writing a patch is usually not the job of the original developer but the distro maintainers. Usually this patch only includes a few lines of code to optimize the app for their specific kernel and to point the install to the correct libs.

I can tell you right now that Debian, the main brains behind the GPL, and the Free and Open Source Foundation and anyone who have anything to do with GNU will not go along with this, and I will be surprised if the other big movers and shakers go along as well, it just feels to much like proprietary standards are being forced down on the community.

Maybe we over-react, don't know, but they will have to go a heck of a long way to proof that this is the future, and another thing, the moment they add the first paid for app on there it will be to their doom and demise, aka LinSpire?

The whole philosophy and ideals of Open Source runs much, much deeper than the need for a user base. something we must always remember!

 

[Vegeta]

The whole philosophy and ideals of Open Source runs much, much deeper than the need for a user base. something we must always remember!

Thats what irritates me about the linux community they want to be a "special" minority. Android is the lesson that linux needs, android is eating up Windows mobile, symbian and iOS... why? Because open-source can be cool, open-source can by uniform, open-source can be easy and best of all open-source can even generate some income for developers because lets face it even open-source prophets need money to live.

Its the philosophy and church of "uniquely opennessnessness" that keeps linux where it is today away from casual pc users, normal people with normal computers in their normal houses. Little development from big muscle, tiny user base and the temple of the nerdy geek.

 

[Fudzy]

Aren't developers entitled to some sort of income for their work? What if it just removes the ads like a lot of the Android free/paid-for apps?