Coming Soon: Ubuntu App Centre – Replacing Add/Remove, Synaptic, Gdebi, Update Manager…

Not that I'm not thrilled at this development, but I really do think people overestimate the difficulty of installing software in Ubuntu (and indeed, Linux in general).A friend of mine is particularly fond of making the point that installing software is needlessly complicated. Yeah, no need to fire up a web browser to get access to thousands of new applications. Check, apply, password. That IS needlessly complicated.I guess this means more ammo for me, then. I am looking forward to a better way to add PPAs. Every time I have to add a new one, I cry.

this is awesome! it would be also nice if there'll be updates for major updates. so, not only from Firefox 3.0 to 3.0.1 but also to 3.5. that would be useful too!

Those who know how says it's easy already, and that goes for me too most of the time. But the year is 2009, and I know currently it's a mess, and can be immensely improved. In 2009, there should a universal, simple, uncomplicated, error-free, and yet powerful method of installing, removing, updating, downgrading application/packages, from the repositories, and from third parties that users will have absolute confidence in. This can be done, and I hope it will. Those who want a one-click solution can be catered for, fundamental for advancing Linux in the consumer space, and those power users or at those times where you want absolute control can be catered for as well.Bring it on!

I think it's a great idea! I can't wait to show the finished product to my friends who don't use Ubuntu/Linux so they can drool and feel even worse about using Windows or Mac, hahaha.

Is it just me or does that look alot like itunes…Not a bad thing…imho

When I look at the mockups I get the impression of an iTunes for software packages. To me this is a good thing as most people can drive iTunes without assistance so they should be able to jump right in to using this.

I personally really like the existing setup.
EVERYTHING already exists in Synaptic, from adding/removing, to updating/upgrading, and even managing your software sources.

These other tools just provide a more GUIified method of doing the same thing Synaptic's been doing all along.
If they want to make a new GUIfied app that combines all the other hanger on apps, that's great. But keep Synaptic.

For all those people who say things along the lines of: "I really think people overestimate the difficulty of installing software in Ubuntu." What you're failing to realize is that ease of installation is only half of the problem.The other half is the learning curve for average users who switch from the familiar Windows installation/update model to the new and confusing Ubuntu model; which as the author of the post points out very well, is relatively poorly designed from a usability standpoint.I am a Windows power user, I tried Ubuntu 9.x recently and basically gave up on it because of this issue. The truth is, if things don't "just work" after a fresh install, you are basically up a creek.Linux devs could learn a lot from the Windows usability model which goes a long way towards supporting users who don't want to spend hours wading through esoteric and clandestine forum posts about how to "fix" things using the console.While people familiar with Linux understand the intricacy of Ubuntu, Windows users don't. And anyway it's not really practical for a 21st century operating system to rely on the user for their own support. Getting hardware to work should always be as easy as checking and unchecking boxes.

To be fair, Ubuntu is not a product. It's free. It's completely justified for a piece of free software to have a high learning curve and cater to whoever they want. And I really will find it interesting how they work out a GUI for installing totally non-GUI things like dev header libraries, since that sounds really hard to do without just letting the app centre fall back to a Synaptic-type system.Second piece: there is very little software I find myself installing nowadays. I tend to think that this existing model was developed with a lot of sense, in that GUI applications that new users would want to install are in the GUI installer, whereas applications that only command-line users would find helpful (like dev headers) are a snap to find in Synaptic, if you know what you're doing. And what person who didn't know what they were doing would want dev headers?That being said, this is exciting. If they can make things more accessible to new users, without taking away the ability to get done quickly what I want done, through the new system, this will be a win for Canonical. If, however, I find that installing dev headers requires a large amount of clicks, I may just want to switch back. Will that be an option?

I'm surprised they think it's too difficult as-is, it's already loads easier than on Windows. With Windows, each application gets it's own directory, which seems simple enough until you have to have separate settings for each user, and then shared libraries, and some apps will want to share other resources with each other… Linux takes card of all these concerns right from / up. With Windows you can't just type a program's EXE name in because Windows won't know where to look for it unless you manually add the path to PATH or use an Eexplorer registry key to tell it where a specific EXE is located (and then it only works in the Run dialog. Try it… iexplore in both Run and cmd.exe). With Linux all your apps are on the path by default.To install programs, there's no complicated installer most of the time. Just check a box in Synaptic (or, for the less techy users, the add/remove programs dialog shown above). With Windows you get a installer wizard which you can just Next through in many cases but even that is a hassle (and perhaps more than that if you forget to opt out of any bundleware!). And don't even try installing multiple things at once… for example, Windows Installer doesn't like it when you try to launch a second Windows Installer-based installer and stops you.A unified center for program management is certainly an interesting idea, perhaps it could take the Add/Remove Programs dialog up a notch and integrate the Update Wizard, and I'm sure I would find it useful in it's own way… but I can't see it replacing Synaptic, simply because I don't believe it would be a "package level" app, which would still be needed. IE some games come with different packages for binaries and data, this tool would likely (correctly, IMO) group them into one download. Similarly I can't see this tool being used to manage things like installed kernel versions.

Ubuntu is obviously trying to gain market share by making Ubuntu less frightening. When my friends see my netbook with 9.10 on it they love it, but when I fire up terminal or Synaptic they back off and say that too hard. It's not that its hard, it just has a learning curve and since pretty much everyone has been spoon fed Windows it looks challenging. I think its great to spread the word, and it doesn't really compromise on security.

To be honest software like this exist already in linux by the gobs. This isn't a better or worse solution then any existing one. Until a universal package distribution system becomes main stream and functions on at least the different major edition of linux. Software availability for commercial applications and ease of installation will always remain complicated from a windows converts point of view. I have worked with floss and other distributions for years. The problem isn't a software installer, the problem is that there are TOO MANY different pieces of software that perform software installation, and TOO MANY packaging methods.I am just lost when people sit down in front of me and tell me that it is not practical to expect someone to learn how to use something before using it. The biggest problem today across all platforms are users that are windowized, people who click on boxes to make them go away with no regard for what they are being told. People who consistently fail to pay attention and then wonder why they are infected with 100 variants of the same virus that they thought they were protected from. Give me a break, take some personal responsibility for a change, stop expecting the world to do everything for you and you might actually learn something along the way.

@AeroClown It's a pretty fine line between a user experience that forces you to take personal responsibility, and a user experience that makes it effortless to do so.It's the latter that Linux and all operating systems should strive to achieve.

It's actually a great idea. Personally,I have a problem understanding what is so darn hard about installing packages inUbuntu now.

I look forward to one central place to manage software. I'm a ubuntu beginner and i was pulling my head out trying to upgrade Firefox to v3.5. THere's some generic firefox non-firefox thing installed and then there's the real firefox and they were all conflicting. WHen i installed firefox 3.5 it wouldn't launch it was just ridiculously difficult. I installed firefox 3.5 in under 5 minutes on the rest of my windows computers in the house. It took DAYS to install it on my ubuntu laptop.Bring on the app store !

I was getting ready to fire off an angry "change! it's so easy why change!", but then I read the part about "making adding and removing apps so easy a grandmother could understand it and use it" and I thought "Yeah you're right".Although I'm no power user or guru, I have used Linux (exclusively) for well over a decade and I have had the chance to learn on my own time and hardware. Every one I come across that lives on a budget and are good people, I'll suggest an Ubuntu setup. I'll offer tech support until they get on their own feet and just like a child learning to ride a bike once they have the basics their off and riding. So far though every one I have coached loves Ubuntu. Usually the person just needs an explanation on what does what. For example, for an instant messenger they can use 'Pigin' instead of 'MSN messenger' or 'Yahoo messenger' and so on. I'm no fan of piracy. I believe developers and companies should get paid for their products plain and simple. If you can not afford to use costly operating systems, virus protection or firewalls then don't. We have Ubuntu and the likes now. This is not the old days of command line installs, command line partitioning, tarballs and gunzips and my personal favorite “where did that f'ing program I just installed go?!” Average people can test/use Ubuntu and other distros quite easily with life CD'S. Also, there is little effort in maintaining the Operating systems security ecosystem through updates and sudo.I've read (over the last 5 years) that Linux (Ubuntu) is not ready for the average consumer desktop but I beg to differ. It's here and people are using it and they love it. I can speak for all my friends, I'm sure they would not trade their Ubuntu machines to revert back to Windows, maybe for a Mac, but absolutely not for Widows.

Looks remarkably like Maemo – a disto I've always said is the best one so far…

I made the Windows -> Ubuntu switch in the last year, and I can say that the software installation procedure was at least mildly confusing for me at first.However, the three programs weren't really the problem, it was just general acclimation (wtf is a package, etc).Having said that, I see no reason not to make this process easier or more natural on a distro that aims to be "noob" friendly. Besides, I do get sick of going back and forth between Add/Rem and Synaptic.

Part of me likes this idea. Especially this part."The ability to continue browsing available software, and queue up installation/removal requests, while other changes are being made. "Essentially what they are doing is improving the MintInstall application.But the other part of me wants to say .. ANYONE who thinks Synaptic and Add/Remove are too difficult should turn off their computers and NEVER be allowed to touch a Keyboard as long as they live. Give them their helmet and put them on the short bus.

I love ubuntu… but honestly it is not as easy to use as some may say. Try installing a wireless card without it readily being available for driver dl. Prettify difficult.Electronic Cigarette

I have to somewhat agree that it's quite confusing – especially when you're 'new' to Ubuntu. Many time i whack something in the terminal via 'apt-get install example', be told it can't be found. A search in Synaptic, however, shows it; the various tools at the moment aren't working together to help the user, they're just working. Which is fine, but most users want their computer to work, not to have to try 4 different tools to find one package.

The Ubuntu-Tweak application duplicates Add/Remove Application and adds Add/Remove Software Source — a step in this direction. IMHO, adding software sources to the current Ubuntu is the most error prone and confusing part of package management.

Wish list:amazon style user reviews of apps.ability to donate straight to a projectability to subscribe for a fixed price per month and choose favourite software to be the beneficiary.

personally I'm all for it if its done right. I just hope they plan to put something like an "advanced mode" for the more avid tinkerers and competent users. that way i wont feel the need to reinstall synaptic. "it is a problem for new users to learn how to install applications mainly because its such a big difference compared to how you install software on say windows where most commonly you use cds. and even when they do learn how to install software they usually don't know what the need to install."

Ive found installing programmes very easy, and I am a linux noob, the only problem I have faced is when an update goes wrong, I dont have the skills or knowledge to put it right, so I would suggest some form of one click rollback that actually works that last known good configuration, which didnt work for me

Present software installation ways or tools are good enough. But, adding new facility like App Center will be really great. Atleast those who are using apts are not going to face any problem. And new comers would be certainly benifited!!

Just as others have said, I too believe that installing software is easy in Ubuntu (and MUCH easier than in Windows). This article makes the mistake of thinking Update Manager has the same purpose as Software Sources. The truth is that VERY FEW people will ever need to modify the standard software sources. Most people will be content to live in Add/Remove programs and the Update Manager is similar to Windows & vendor-specific updaters (Apple, Adobe, Sun, etc.). However, unlike Windows, where I have to have a system tray taken up by every major company's updater application (and all the overhead that comes with it) I have a single, unified app watching out for me and alerting me to all updates.I'm all for simplifying things and making things even better, but to say that the Ubuntu software install and update process is more complex than Windows or somehow inferior to it (and I'm assuming we're talking about XP or Vista not Win7) is simply untrue. I know plenty of advanced users moving to Windows to Ubuntu and simple users making the same transition that like the Ubuntu software management a lot better than Windows XP/Vista.

So does this mean the "apt-get" command-line tool is going away? because I never use graphical package managers…

i would seriously doubt that they would remove the apt-get command(unless they lost their minds), so no they wouldn't.

This is rather funny to me. For the sake of laughs, let's take someone who has never used a computer before (an old person? or perhaps someone from the ghetto) and sit them down in a room with a software installation manuel of how to install software for ubuntu, and how to install software for windows and see which one he can do faster. I know if you counted the clicks and keypresses for a windows user, along with time to install a simple piece of software to a linux user, you will see the linux user always smoke the windows user. let's go through it shall we? Windows and Linux user, please install a cd burning tool. Windows user googles for a cdburning tool, linux user starts synaptic and presses find. They both search for cd burning tool. Linux user finds one, windows user does too. Linux user clicks a little checkmark, windows user clicks the link to their website. Linux user clicks apply. Windows user clicks download. Linux user watches the computer download, unpack and install his software, then it's done. Windows user see's that it's only a 30 day demo for the software or it is loaded with spyware, bangs his head on his keyboard because he just got pwned.

That being said, say it wasn't a demo. Say that it was like IMGBurn, alright, he downloads it, he double clicks it, he puts in his admin password for UAC, he clicks next 5 times, he clicks finish, he reboots his pc, he is done. While at this time, the linux user has already burned about 4 cd's.

i just hope dey do implement this for karmic. the developers usually do give a lot of promise during the start of every new release but towards the end srap it for the next release

I find synaptic to be a more or less one-stop shop as it is. As happy as I am with it, watching windows users getting to grips with ubuntu reminds me that the desire to go on any learning curve can be pretty weak. So I'm in favour of the app shop for that reason alone. I still can't work out why ubuntu doesn't shift with some professionally made videos each one showing new users how each aspect of the system works and how to use it, in laymans terms.

replacing synaptic? why the hell you wanna do that? it does what it does pretty good.how about adding new features like having better control (user friendly) over installation and better off-line installation/backup support.in windows you can easily distribute/backup programes by managing EXE files around. try that with linux (you wouldn't wanna do that if you're not a computer science/engineer graduate !)wanna install your software in a custom location? easy in windows. try that in linux (most users wouldn't have a clue what to do)last but not the least how about making a standardized software distribution format (like EXE in windows) that is hardware and specific linux version independent so that developers actually have an incentive to make their software available in that format instead of depending on volunteers. i mean when was the last time you saw most recent version of a software in repos? and also not every software is on the repos (for the same reason).

@ undercoverbrotherthe "interface" to synaptic is being changed, the 'synaptic' base is still there, hence you can still sudo apt-get install XXXX Creating a unified 'software store' fulfils the majority of your gripe! ONE location to install and remove Linux apps, no more tar.gz's, install/remove wine apps too. all from one window – no more "jubilee of options" as another reader put it.And having a "unified" package system isn't workable across all Linuxes – though debian based linuxes DO have a standardised "package" – it's called .deb and it's what most major software is available in.RPM does the same for red hat based linuxes… and err… yeah that's about it.Software distributed as tar.gz's etc are folders full of source code with, usually, an install script inside. These can be converted to deb very easily, it's not the rest of the worlds fault if you don't get on with the way things are currently. That's why they're changing.

please add not replace cause newer maybe slower!

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Tags tags tags tags tags tags tags!Please! Ok, what am I talking about, eh? I want a tagging system similar to what Gmail has. I think the current system puts things into single buckets, when most packages fit into multiple buckets.For example, a game. All games are put into the games bucket, but that's just not very descriptive. What if I want a 3d game? What if I want it multiplayer? What if I want a single player 3d game, or a multiplayer 2d game, etc, etc.BTW, I think this is a great idea in general. I have always found the current installers (all of them) to be lacking in quality information about the packages. The package description is helpful, but you can't sort on that (at least I don't know how). I think some of the negative comments are underestimating the learning curve that the current package systems have. It's this bump at the beginning that allot of us can forget about. If you don't know what programs are good, and you don't know what a package is, that bump can be intimidating.Ooo, another cool feature would would be custom description lists like Amazon.com lists. That way, someone could come up with their own reviews for various niche softwares.

Hi There, I was reading the article and the comments and Ubuntu Weekly, I think adding this centralized App Store is good, however please do not drop the Add/Remove under Applications, build on it, and do not remove Synaptic, it works, it's needed, do not remove, I use Synaptic and command line sudo aptitude safe-upgrade, I would more than likely visit your app-store however since I know what I want I'll continue to use Synaptic with appropriate repos. I have used GetDeb, and found useful software. Bottom Line to Ubuntu, do not drop Add/Remove Applications feature, do not drop Synaptic, if you do, I,ll stop using Ubuntu,plain & simple, these are necessary tools, they work well, keep improving them, however do not remove them.Thank you for your time and attention.

Personally, I think the problem that most of these people that are whining about Ubuntu and other Linux distros being so called not as user friendly as Windows simply stems from the fact that LINUX OR UBUNTU IS NOT WINDOWS!!!! Man I say this so many times to people its beginning to kill me everytime I have to repeat it again.If you go into a Linux distro intending to find Windows and a Windows like environment I ask you one thing,,, Why dont you just stick with Windows if you want to use Windows? Linux is not Windows and I personally pray it never ends up like it. Now I will agree with you that some things do need to be improved like hardware support out of the box, but at the same time, how many of you have ever installed a new version of Windows? It is generally harder to set up than a Linux install. The reason everything just works supposedly on Windows is because your hardware manufacturer has done all the hardwork for you of installing drivers.Try installing Windows 7 when its released and I bet you have to hunt down at least a few drivers to get everything working and that will involve searching the web and going god knows were.At least in Linux everything is in the package manager. How hard can it be to open Synaptic and click install people. Seems harder to me to have to download a installer from a web page and then double click it followed by using the wizard. In linux all you have to do is like 2 clicks.Anyways Im ranting.My point again is LINUX IS NOT WINDOWS dont go into Linux expecting everything to be like Windows because its not. And if you want your Operating system to be like windows than just use windows. Why would Linux have ever been created if everyone just wanted to use Windows. Thats just it, Linux users Prefer Linux to Windows and Windows users either prefer Windows to Linux or there just too lazy to learn a new OS so they try Linux and to there shock its not like Windows so they have to go back to Windows because they dont want to learn a new OS but at the same time they dont want to deal with viruses and security holes, and instability so they keep pressuring Linux developers to turn Linux into Windows so they dont have to learn anything. Look linux is opensource if you want Linux to be like Windows than learn how to code and make your own Linux distro thats just like Windows. Or learn how to use Linux and quit trying to get Linux turned Into Windows to save you all the trouble of learning something new.Ok Im done… :)

Good times as far as I'm concerned. Made the switch on my home machine about a year ago and not looked back.I think whatever they do to make Ubuntu easier for newbies the better.