Ubuntu Software Center page
Ricardo Cruz
I have just come across this Ubuntu Software Center page (not to confuse
with Synaptic):
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoftwareCenter
There are lot of profissional drawings and discussions there. Some of
that stuff hasn't been implemented yet (like ratings), so it looks like
that is in fact the design document leading to the development of the
tool, not something written after the fact.
Of course, we can barely implement half of the functionality supported
by the Ubuntu Software Center, since it would require a coordinative
effort involving the entire distribution stack. But maybe it can serve
as an inspiration.
---
By the way, it sounds like Ubuntu truly is positioning itself to become
the first financially-successful home/desktop distribution. Several
companies have been fairly successful recovering their R&D costs with
enterprise/desktop distributions by selling services to high-end
businesses. Some of that has trickled down to the common home user (as
is the case of Novell and opensuse), but the home user is only a guinea
pig to such firms, not the customer.
Ubuntu is starting to sell software through the Software Center, and
music through RhythmBox. It is my impression that distribution channels,
such as iTunes, have big economies of scale (ie. as you scale, revenue
tends to outpace cost). If that is the case, it means there's negative
value to being a competitor to Ubuntu. (ie. There isn't much room for
competition in the distribution business of virtual goods.) They could
easily therefore "overcharge" their customers a couple of cents (without
fear of someone forking Ubuntu and taking over the market) and recover
R&D costs -- and they will have every incentive to re-invest in the R&D
of Ubuntu, provided they control only the distribution channel for
Ubuntu (ie. if they port Software Center and RhythmBox to Windows/Mac,
and they become successful there too, then there isn't much of an
incentive to re-invest in Ubuntu).
Anyhow, I doubt they're being serious about the distribution market.
There is much more commercial software available to Linux than the ones
they are listing. If they can't provide a decent catalog as it is, I
doubt they are negotiating ports for anything exciting. Also, they
seemed to have put some gtk rookies on charge of the development. See
e.g. bug 635994 on fixing keyboard shortcuts.
It would also be a bit odd to have an open-source distribution financed
by selling closed-source stuff. eheh
Cheers,
Ricardo