Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2010 20:27:55 -0500 (CDT) From: "Jeremy C. Reed" <reed@reedmedia.net> To: chat@freebsd.org Subject: "app store" for open source Unix? Message-ID: <alpine.NEB.2.01.1004091914440.10353@t1.m.reedmedia.net>
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(I am not an iphone user. I did have a sidekick 2 which had a small store to browse and install software applications with. And I have a Nokia phone. But I installed third-party software manually by searching for software via google.) My nine-year-old asks me if I have some software to install ... I understand iphones have hundreds of thousands to millions of "apps" and google-based phones have tens of thousands of applications. (Note that "google apps" has different meaning, so I mean like the Android Market.) Samsung and others have "apps stores" too. Apparently, the software choices can easily be browsed, selected, (purchased if needed), and installed (including fetching). They suggest what it is cool and interesting. Examples: simple keyboard to play music, stopwatch, pacman game, calculator, and other widgets. Full size desktop screen is not needed for me, just a small area. I have no ideas about "dependencies" for these. I assume that most if not all are standalone. Other than being designed for a particular API defined by the vendor. Well why can't we have this for open source Unix for desktop users? I assume all these apps are designed to fit a certain mold, are based on a consistent API, maybe using common templates, most have a standard interface, etc. The only thing that comes to mind for me now are old Window Maker Dock Apps: http://web.cs.mun.ca/~gstarkes/wmaker/dockapps/ http://www.dockapps.org/ But selection is way too small. A quick search today took me to http://qt-apps.org/ which looks like a fine way to browse, but not the quickest way. And when I click to download I was taken to a sourceforge site. So no timesaver for me. Now I just found http://wiki.awn-project.org/Applet_Gallery http://wiki.awn-project.org/Awn-extras But it is a wiki and doesn't really let you click to install. The wiki is mostly a deadend. But the docs (on http://wiki.awn-project.org/Applets) do point out some things I want: - press install and select applet - or grag to some area in the window manager - you can activate, deactivate, delete applets (but doesn't seem to offer a download mechanism) Why can't I go to some website, quickly find apps (including showing screenshots or video), and install and run with one click (once I find it)? How can apple and google create these "app" markets so fast? (On that note, often when I need a quick software tool, I search the web for a website that has a javascript or CGI backend to do what I want -- since it is so much faster than downloading a package.) I do understand the problem. The open source Unix community is so diverse -- so many platforms, so many APIs, so many different developer environments, so many opinions, and little money incentive. Using FreeBSD as an example: does FreeBSD currently solve any of this problem for me? Front website doesn't have "software" or "package" or "app". It does have "ports" but not highlighted at the top. (At least I know what "ports" means.) Ports page doesn't excite me. I am bored, what do I want to install? Or I need this, where do I find it? I want a simple weather widget... I type "weather" in the search textbox. So I get a long webpage (long because it lists the many "Requires" -- that already scares me). No long descriptions on same page. Short descriptions don't help me much. No pictures. The order is alphabetical by category and within category. No opinions, no rankings. Not sure what to click on. So I will click on the first one. Ooops. Takes me to cvsweb. I click browser back arrow and read some more. So many links. I click "Download". And I download. How does it know what platform I am using (hoping it detected it for me). It is a tarball. I look at it. Oh, it is only individual ports directory -- the build specifications -- for the single package. (Can that individual tarball really be used standalone by anyone without ports tree?) Well I know about freshports. I use it often. (I interviewed its webmaster in New Zealand? and wrote an article about it about 10 years ago.) Front page shows latest updates, latest vulnerabilities. No suggestions to tell me what I should try today. I type "weather" in the small search box, No click to install, but at least it gives me some good advice "To add the package: pkg_add -r ..." -- assuming packages are really available for my -r detection and that I don't have any old or conflicting dependencies already installed. Plus I don't even know yet if the "app" will startup and appear on my desktop and show me what I want. Okay. PCBSD. Your turn. Can't find "software" or "package", but I do see a good hint buried in some release notes on same page: "Updated Software Manager, allows browsing and installing applications directly" (but that is only by coincidence). That is what I want! Still on frontpage, I als see "Store" and "Download". Well "Download" is for installing entire operating system. "Store" ... maybe an "App Store"? Nope. I stop here -- but I am encouraged to try the "Updated Software Manager" to see if it shows highlights of new "apps" to try when I am bored or makes it easy to start a "weather" app. I should have picked on NetBSD or Debian instead :) But same problems. It would be awesome to have: - defined desktop "API" that includes consistent way to start, define in menu, advertise itself, provide demos, etc. - provided in portable format, like some scripting language or portable dynamic language (like parrot virtual machine) that is consistent from system to system - all dependencies must by bundled in same download -- or be able to installed easily and if a conflict is there, still install to alternative place (and used from there). - IDE that attracts these "app" developers - easy for app developers to publish/distribute their application to the "market" - website (and applications) that make it simple to find new applications. What's popular? Ranked? Reviews? See demo. Make it easy to know it is what you want. One click install which downloads and the gives you choice to run right then. - be able to see all my installed apps and manage them. Does anything like this exist? Since I don't use any modern app stores, please share your thoughts about them and how they compare with what is available now? (I noticed with adroidapps.com no way to download and android.com/market/ says need to view "on a handset".) By the way, can you use any of these phone apps on regular desktop computers? Also if a different open source Unix system already provides this, please let me know.
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