Novell Ponders "Open-Source Apps Store" 183
Barence writes "Novell plans to bring the wealth of open-source software to everyday users through an 'open-source apps store.' 'I would compare what's happening on netbooks with what's happening to the smartphone,' Holger Dyroff, vice president of business development at Novell told PC Pro. 'There's a core experience, but then the ability to customise that experience. On the user end, all they'll see is an open-source applications store with one-click downloads of new software. Unlike the other stores though, they won't have to pay for any of those applications, which will be very attractive.'"
Re:Great Idea, just follow through Solidly. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:So, in other words (Score:3, Informative)
Or like Linspire's Click & Run
Re:Apt (Score:4, Informative)
Re:So, in other words (Score:3, Informative)
No.
It's more like something a typical linux newbee would be able to use.
Re:So, in other words (Score:-1, Informative)
You have to admit though, that an interface with a few pictures would be a nice feature.
Re:1 Click Installer (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Apt (Score:4, Informative)
What is seen as control to you is seen by debian users like me as a guarantee that the system is going to work.
There is nothing at all stopping you from putting software on from other sources. You can add apt sources, you can dump binaries on, you can buidl from source, do what the hell you like.
But the official distro repositories exist to provide distro-approved, working, stable software. Feel free to start your own repo if that's not good enough.
Debian has more available packages than any other system in existance, if I want something else I go elsewhere and change my expectations of stability accordingly. I'd say the system works absolutely perfectly.
And you actually *want* to have to go hunting all over the web for badly written, unstable and incompatible software?
No thanks.
Re:Replying to self (Score:3, Informative)
Sourceforge lacks the polish of a true app store. Techies are comfortable with it, but it would be confusing to a mass audience.
Re:As a developer i don't find it's so attractive (Score:3, Informative)
Agreed. People seem to be missing out on the core part of what makes the app store so successful: it makes it very easy to connect your little indie application to a very large audience.
It was also a very new platform with a large install base - ie, a market where being the first or the best product was more important than being established.
If they have a nice mix of free and paid software on there, I could see it being useful... but still not so much, since not every PC shipping would have it. If there's no significant user base, why bother putting your apps on there instead of just tossing it on download.com?
Love of free software only takes you so far - greed and/or financial survival is a much stronger motivator.
Re:Replying to self (Score:3, Informative)
Menu -> Add/Remove Software
In Add/Remove Software, go to the search box, look for Gweled, click install
Re:So, in other words (Score:5, Informative)
You'd think that someone would work their synaptic brain patterns and come up with that!
Screenshots have been available in synaptic on ubuntu for a couple of releases now