Gnome gets ready to unleash the beast: An App Center!

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A week ago we covered the new offline installer and today we’ll show you the fresh latest mock ups from the new package manager.

What is the most important change to the package manager, other its new looking, is that we have a human readable description of the updates, and this is something that many people will appreciate. Of course the ability to check the advanced info of the update remains. Its great.

Gnome developers also work on an software center on the top of gnome-packagekit. In theory that means that it will run in every Gnome distro out of box. Before you get too much excited this is a work in progress and will not be shipped in next Gnome. My guess is that will arrive one release after, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a quick look .. Enjoy :)

Simple and professional with the typical Adwaita theme and the next generation Gnome applications layout that targets on small screens. I really doubt that we could buy a commercial software from here, but this isn’t really a problem.

There aren’t so many commercial Apps in Linux and normally you buy them directly from the Publisher web-page.

It was impossible not to compare these two side by side. But we won’t comment. We let you to speak your opinions :)

Floo Bar

This page is really great! I found it via linux today and bookmared it instantly.

I love to see some progress regarding packages. But honestly: The Ubuntus Software center (I never saw it before) looks quite good as well. However, I somehow prefer the more-app-like-look of gnomes mockup.
- alex285
  
  Thank you!
"#"Smithd014 Dave

Really good looking Software Center. This is exciting. Something I’ve always felt was missing from a distro like Fedora was a nice simple way to find/install new programs. Keep up the great work!
Paul B

If the Applications screen in overview is going to get a redesign, this is what it should look like. Honestly, this look great and, and if the software source is going to have categories and a nice organizational structure why not put the same design in the launcher as well for some consistency? The Gnome 3 applications look great, it would be nice to see that same design rub off on the overview screen.
"#"people/Ed-LaBonte/100000820782542 Ed LaBonte

Forget it. I’ve given up on Gnome. Xfce is my new home.
- ScionicSpectre
  
  Not a bad choice, honestly- if it’s not your thing you shouldn’t use it.
- Kandelai
  
  Same here….Xfce is the new/old gnome. I love Xfce…fast and has everything I need.
  - Ryan
    
    Xfce borrows most of it’s plumbing from GNOME. So, all you’ve done is replace your WM and core apps. There’s tons of work being done on GNOME that also benefits Xfce users.
Tacco

It is really nice!!!!
- Ryan
  
  Hi Borat.
TROLLER

HELLO I AM GNOME AND I REINVENT THE WHEEL COZ I CAN

YOU JUST GOT TROLLED - AH AH
- http://ekd123.org/ Mike Manilone
  
  So please use Ubuntu Software Center on Fedora cuz you can? No, you can’t, forever.
Guest

I really wish the GNOME devs would stop trying to create “killer features” and fix some of the *basic usability issues* of the shell.
- Floo Bar
  
  Well, installing software is a basic feature.
  - Fasd
    
    It’s basic future of package manager not DE!
    - Floo Bar
      
      The whole idea of a desktop environment is to provide a basic set of applications to create an appealing feeling. A nice looking package manager belongs to every DE just like an account manager and a printing-manager.
      
      In fact the app center belongs more to an DE as a set of simple games,
      - Fasd
        
        Good to know that Gnome people are spending time and money on such critical things like _another_ app center. I’ve heard they finally did implement shutdown button, uff it took only couple of years for such an exotic esoteric function! Maybe in another couple of years users will be actually able to set up _anything_… but I don’t know if serving user belongs to Gnome DE paradigm.
      - Alex Diavatis
        
        What do you mean by “another” ? I think an App Center that will integrate software-updates, add-remove software/libs, something pretty much as synaptic does, in a nice interface isn’t waste of time. Although I use yum for add/remove/update, I would prefer having a more visual interface. And package-manager at this time is just awful.
      - Fasd
        
        Every distro has its own some sort of package managment either CLI or GUI and it should stay as distribution thing not DE. Besides that you’ve got Ubuntu software center which I think Debian also use, Muon for apt distros, Apper based on package kit (works even with Arch Linux packages), Yast and so on. Do you really think this job belongs to DE?
      - Floo Bar
        
        1. Debian does not use Ubuntus Software center.
        2. It’s going to be package-kit based. A lot of package-kit developers are using Gnome. Including the maintainer. It’s very likely that this is going to be the next UI for an existing tool as well.
        
        A guy that informs you about the existence of a tool for a giving job is obviously not the best oracle to ask when it comes about the question whether we should write a tool or not. It’s also about providing a consistent feeling when you use your desktop. Installing software is simply a basic and ordinary part of using a computer and a way too hard for people who have no clue about Linux and distributions. They barely know that they are using a desktop. (And yes: I know a bunch of guys who are using linux but do not have an idea how to do more than browsing and using open office.)
        
        Familiar looking tools for the basic task help a lot here. They give users the feeling that they are using something familiar.
        
        I do not really understand your negative feelings about this. You don’t have to use it anyway. When you feel like using the command line or a tool that does not fit in Gnome (Like apper=QT; non-package-kit based is not an option) is the right thing for you, just do it.
        
        It’s not your time that get “wasted” on implementing and designing anyway. You do not even have to pay for a single part of our platform.
      - Teri Seika
        
        not anymore they use gnome package kit in wheezy, at least in the CUT version (updated in March) I am using now
      - Ryan
        
        The shut down button was always there, dumbass. There’s a lot of work to be done. Every time a release comes around, people are working hard to get things finished. Are you gonna help or just complain?
- Ryan
  
  Umm, they are. There’s a huge amount of work happening to the shell for 3.6. It’s not necessary to stop working on everything else just because the shell has some issues. If you want speed up the work, stop bitching and start helping.
http://www.robinj.be/ Robin Jacobs

Design could be a bit better, but looks nice :)
Fabio

I think it waste a bit of space on the top.
- "#"leif81 Leif Gruenwoldt
  
  Ya. I like the idea of “featured” apps, but using regular sized icons just like the “popular” section would be more easy on the eyes.
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Guest

It is funny to see how Gnome does just copy Unity… It is a little bit sade to see it. Why doing exactly the same things just a little bit differnt visually speaking?
- http://profiles.google.com/tshimulu Luya Tshimbalanga
  
  Unity forked Gnome 3 which started the development earlier. Learn history.
  - tiredofthenonsense
    
    No, Luya, Red Hat designers refused to listen to Canonical designers, and Red Hat maintainers refused to accept code from Canonical developers. Unity existed as a full design well before Gnome Shell work began, and Gnome Shell was redesigned to look much more like Unity after Unity shipped for the first time. Gnome developers just want to get on and write good code, but they are held hostage by Red Hat, which treats Gnome like its personal fiefdom. First it was “the Gnome maintainers decide, not the Gnome Board” (when the maintainers were Red Hat) and then it was “Gnome Design decides” when the designers were all Red Hat.
    
    There is a real problem in Gnome these days, that nobody is acknowledging properly. It is the influence that Red Hat exerts over Gnome, and the way the rules are changed to suit Red Hat. Gnome would be much better off if Canonical had felt welcome, and contributions accepted rather than being rejected. The entire “split” was engineered by Red Hat.
    - Ryan
      
      Red Hat write the vast majority of code in GNOME. They are also by far the #1 contributor to the kernel and most other Linux projects. They write the code, they understand the code, they make the beg decisions. Canonical have this delusional idea that they can convert a few clueless ex-Windows users into Ubuntu fanboys and they get their way all the time. Doesn’t work like that I’m afraid buddy. The reason they get ignored is because they want to set the rules and then have Red Hat build it for them. Ubuntu simply don’t have the talent or the man power to operator without Red Hat’s much larger resources. Be thankful they still believe in Free Software even after Mark Shuttlecock came along, took their work and tried to take all the credit for it (which idiots like you still believe even now).
- Ryan
  
  No, GNOME are developing things for the long haul, in sane languages and with sane goals. Canonical are just trying to build hype and test out their silly hipster development methodologies. A lot of projects started by Canonical are now fading into insignificance. They’ll eventually be forced to ditch Upstart, because literally everyone else has voted with their feet and shunned it by now. Canonical simply aren’t a very good engineering company - they’re just a marketing company masquerading as one. If you’re believing their hype then you’re the sucker, but don’t come here and ignorantly project it on people who know something.
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guest

Always reinventing the wheel… even when there are ALREADY wheels to reuse!

So boring and so absurd waste of time, energy and coders that could do a lot of more useful things, that we are missing in our linuxboxes :-(

Really, can’t understand why they don’t join efforts and merge their work with other similar FLOSS projects.
- Floo Bar
  
  Dude, it’s just a simple package-kit frontend. It’s not really a huge task for a developer with some gtk experience.
  - Ryan
    
    Exactly, it’s not at all “re-inventing the wheel”. It’s building on and improving a project (PackageKit) that’s been around for a long time. Just because it’s not your flavour of the month doesn’t mean it hasn’t been there all along.
- Ryan
  
  Like Linus Torvalds says, “there’s no substitute for massive parallel experimentation”. It’s technological Darwinism. It’s incredibly naive to suggest everyone merge their efforts when they’re all chasing different goals. It’s almost always whiney, non-contributors that do this. Start helping and get involved and you’ll soon lose that silly, utopian attitude.
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Philip Witte

This is the single most needed thing for distro’s like Fedora and Arch Linux Spins. The mock-up looks great, and I hope this gets a lot of attention from here on out. Great works guys.
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