An update from Linux-land
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Last week I decided to try out Ubuntu as my primary desktop OS at home. My initial experiences and observations are here[^]. Now, part 2. Following the firewall advice from the earlier discussion, I decided to install Firestarter. First thing I did was went to their website and looked for a download link. Surprisingly, there isn't one. It simply says "Firestarter is available in the Ubuntu universe repository.". So following their directions, I hit the "start" menu, and go to "add/remove programs". Sure enough, in the list is Firestarter. I'm slightly puzzled, I think surely this will just be installing from my Ubuntu CD which was released several months ago, so where do I get an up to date version? Well, I tick the box to select it and proceed with the install. Quick confirmation prompt and Woosh, Firestarter latest version is downloaded and installed in about 15 seconds, no confusing questions about where to put the files, no config. It just works. Brilliant. I love this universe repository thing. There's stacks of software there, it all just installs dead easy, it all auto updates to the latest versions. On windows, every app you want, requires finding the website, downloading, installing (and every installer is different and asks lots of confusing questions), etc. The Ubuntu repositories cuts through all the complications and just makes it all easily available. After a bit of reading about this it becomes clear there are several different repositories offering software at different levels running from "Main" which is officially supported Ubuntu software, through non-open source software ("Restricted"), community maintained software ("Universe"), and non-free software ("Multiverse"). You can configure which of these repositories are made available to you through a nice little GUI app found in the administrative tools menu. Obviously, there's nothing stopping you from going to the vendors site and following the traditional Linux route of downloading and building the app from sources. This is a definite plus point for Ubuntu, finding and installing new software is simple and easy in comparison to windows. It's worth noting that this is an Ubuntu specific feature, not all Linux distributions are going to have this fantastic level of out of the box, pre-compiled, ready to go, software support. Anyway, after the little distra
I suggest you keep a copy at your cp blog page and keep us posted through the lounge. Your posts are making me wonder if I should wipe windows off a pc and install ubuntu on it permanently (although I've completely stopped writing apps for UNIX/Linux these days). I'll give it a try. :)
Please leave us our small pleasures, they are small, but they are ours! - Mycroft Holmes ^ .·´¯`·->Rajesh<-·´¯`·. [Microsoft MVP - Visual C++]
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I wouldn't worry about a virus checker. I'd use VLC as a media player, gimp for image editing. A PDF viewer should be installed on Ubuntu as standard. I never bothered to run Windows in a VM, just dual-booted. And I'd be interested to hear your further comments!
Steve_Harris wrote:
I'd use VLC as a media player
Cool, looks good. Will certainly try that.
Steve_Harris wrote:
gimp for image editing.
Already do on windows, so that would be my obvious first choice too.
Steve_Harris wrote:
A PDF viewer should be installed on Ubuntu as standard
I thought so, I'm just not taking anything for granted, and PDF is an absolute requirement if I'm going to stick with Linux. Thanks for the tips. :)
Steve_Harris wrote:
I never bothered to run Windows in a VM, just dual-booted
My problem with dual booting is that it's too tempting just to just stick with windows. I want a VM for those minor occasions when I have to do something in windows. Until I get totally comfortable in Linux, I need to force myself a bit by making Linux use the path of least resistance.
Simon
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Steve_Harris wrote:
I'd use VLC as a media player
Cool, looks good. Will certainly try that.
Steve_Harris wrote:
gimp for image editing.
Already do on windows, so that would be my obvious first choice too.
Steve_Harris wrote:
A PDF viewer should be installed on Ubuntu as standard
I thought so, I'm just not taking anything for granted, and PDF is an absolute requirement if I'm going to stick with Linux. Thanks for the tips. :)
Steve_Harris wrote:
I never bothered to run Windows in a VM, just dual-booted
My problem with dual booting is that it's too tempting just to just stick with windows. I want a VM for those minor occasions when I have to do something in windows. Until I get totally comfortable in Linux, I need to force myself a bit by making Linux use the path of least resistance.
Simon
Simon Stevens wrote:
Already do on windows, so that would be my obvious first choice too.
I don't want to bitch about open source software and so I wouldn't comment on GIMP. On Windows, my choice is Paint .NET.
Please leave us our small pleasures, they are small, but they are ours! - Mycroft Holmes ^ .·´¯`·->Rajesh<-·´¯`·. [Microsoft MVP - Visual C++]
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Steve_Harris wrote:
I'd use VLC as a media player
Cool, looks good. Will certainly try that.
Steve_Harris wrote:
gimp for image editing.
Already do on windows, so that would be my obvious first choice too.
Steve_Harris wrote:
A PDF viewer should be installed on Ubuntu as standard
I thought so, I'm just not taking anything for granted, and PDF is an absolute requirement if I'm going to stick with Linux. Thanks for the tips. :)
Steve_Harris wrote:
I never bothered to run Windows in a VM, just dual-booted
My problem with dual booting is that it's too tempting just to just stick with windows. I want a VM for those minor occasions when I have to do something in windows. Until I get totally comfortable in Linux, I need to force myself a bit by making Linux use the path of least resistance.
Simon
Simon Stevens wrote:
My problem with dual booting is that it's too tempting just to just stick with windows.
I found myself doing it more and more once Ubuntu suddenly stopped supporting my scanner following an update and wound up going back to XP permanently. :(
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Simon Stevens wrote:
Already do on windows, so that would be my obvious first choice too.
I don't want to bitch about open source software and so I wouldn't comment on GIMP. On Windows, my choice is Paint .NET.
Please leave us our small pleasures, they are small, but they are ours! - Mycroft Holmes ^ .·´¯`·->Rajesh<-·´¯`·. [Microsoft MVP - Visual C++]
Rajesh R Subramanian wrote:
I don't want to bitch about open source software and so I wouldn't comment on GIMP
:laugh: I know it has it's failings. I started using it a year or two ago with the specific intention of getting used to it should I even switch to Linux. I often use Paint.Net as a kind of fall-back on windows when Gimp gets too crazy. (Maybe I'll try porting it to MONO as my first Linux programming project) [Edit: Looks like somebody already has[^] :) Dam, there goes a good project idea]
Simon
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I suggest you keep a copy at your cp blog page and keep us posted through the lounge. Your posts are making me wonder if I should wipe windows off a pc and install ubuntu on it permanently (although I've completely stopped writing apps for UNIX/Linux these days). I'll give it a try. :)
Please leave us our small pleasures, they are small, but they are ours! - Mycroft Holmes ^ .·´¯`·->Rajesh<-·´¯`·. [Microsoft MVP - Visual C++]
Rajesh R Subramanian wrote:
I suggest you keep a copy at your cp blog page and keep us posted through the lounge
That's a good idea.
Rajesh R Subramanian wrote:
Your posts are making me wonder if I should wipe windows off a pc and install ubuntu on it permanently
Yeah..do it.... ;) My motivation is because I don't like being tied to windows. I would prefer to have enough knowledge to use multiple systems comfortably. Ultimately I'd prefer to be able to write software that is more portable between systems.
Simon
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Last week I decided to try out Ubuntu as my primary desktop OS at home. My initial experiences and observations are here[^]. Now, part 2. Following the firewall advice from the earlier discussion, I decided to install Firestarter. First thing I did was went to their website and looked for a download link. Surprisingly, there isn't one. It simply says "Firestarter is available in the Ubuntu universe repository.". So following their directions, I hit the "start" menu, and go to "add/remove programs". Sure enough, in the list is Firestarter. I'm slightly puzzled, I think surely this will just be installing from my Ubuntu CD which was released several months ago, so where do I get an up to date version? Well, I tick the box to select it and proceed with the install. Quick confirmation prompt and Woosh, Firestarter latest version is downloaded and installed in about 15 seconds, no confusing questions about where to put the files, no config. It just works. Brilliant. I love this universe repository thing. There's stacks of software there, it all just installs dead easy, it all auto updates to the latest versions. On windows, every app you want, requires finding the website, downloading, installing (and every installer is different and asks lots of confusing questions), etc. The Ubuntu repositories cuts through all the complications and just makes it all easily available. After a bit of reading about this it becomes clear there are several different repositories offering software at different levels running from "Main" which is officially supported Ubuntu software, through non-open source software ("Restricted"), community maintained software ("Universe"), and non-free software ("Multiverse"). You can configure which of these repositories are made available to you through a nice little GUI app found in the administrative tools menu. Obviously, there's nothing stopping you from going to the vendors site and following the traditional Linux route of downloading and building the app from sources. This is a definite plus point for Ubuntu, finding and installing new software is simple and easy in comparison to windows. It's worth noting that this is an Ubuntu specific feature, not all Linux distributions are going to have this fantastic level of out of the box, pre-compiled, ready to go, software support. Anyway, after the little distra
Keep posting the updates here - it's interesting to me at least.
Simon Stevens wrote:
Image editing
F Spot[^] is pretty good. And available via the repositories.
Simon Stevens wrote:
Programming - Languages/IDEs/Frameworks
Take a look at what's offered to you in the repositories via synaptic (is that what it's called? I'm away from my Ubuntu boxes at the moment) - there's loads there. And the GCC[^] is cracking. One of the things I really like about Ubuntu is that I can get the OS is UK English. Might sound daft, but I like the fact that these guys have taken the time to spell Colour etc. properly, it's a pet annoyance for me in windows.
- Dy
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Rajesh R Subramanian wrote:
I suggest you keep a copy at your cp blog page and keep us posted through the lounge
That's a good idea.
Rajesh R Subramanian wrote:
Your posts are making me wonder if I should wipe windows off a pc and install ubuntu on it permanently
Yeah..do it.... ;) My motivation is because I don't like being tied to windows. I would prefer to have enough knowledge to use multiple systems comfortably. Ultimately I'd prefer to be able to write software that is more portable between systems.
Simon
I've done some cross-platform programming; but I somehow feel that Windows development is the one for me. If I do install Ubuntu on a PC, I'll do it only for fun. :)
Please leave us our small pleasures, they are small, but they are ours! - Mycroft Holmes ^ .·´¯`·->Rajesh<-·´¯`·. [Microsoft MVP - Visual C++]
-
Last week I decided to try out Ubuntu as my primary desktop OS at home. My initial experiences and observations are here[^]. Now, part 2. Following the firewall advice from the earlier discussion, I decided to install Firestarter. First thing I did was went to their website and looked for a download link. Surprisingly, there isn't one. It simply says "Firestarter is available in the Ubuntu universe repository.". So following their directions, I hit the "start" menu, and go to "add/remove programs". Sure enough, in the list is Firestarter. I'm slightly puzzled, I think surely this will just be installing from my Ubuntu CD which was released several months ago, so where do I get an up to date version? Well, I tick the box to select it and proceed with the install. Quick confirmation prompt and Woosh, Firestarter latest version is downloaded and installed in about 15 seconds, no confusing questions about where to put the files, no config. It just works. Brilliant. I love this universe repository thing. There's stacks of software there, it all just installs dead easy, it all auto updates to the latest versions. On windows, every app you want, requires finding the website, downloading, installing (and every installer is different and asks lots of confusing questions), etc. The Ubuntu repositories cuts through all the complications and just makes it all easily available. After a bit of reading about this it becomes clear there are several different repositories offering software at different levels running from "Main" which is officially supported Ubuntu software, through non-open source software ("Restricted"), community maintained software ("Universe"), and non-free software ("Multiverse"). You can configure which of these repositories are made available to you through a nice little GUI app found in the administrative tools menu. Obviously, there's nothing stopping you from going to the vendors site and following the traditional Linux route of downloading and building the app from sources. This is a definite plus point for Ubuntu, finding and installing new software is simple and easy in comparison to windows. It's worth noting that this is an Ubuntu specific feature, not all Linux distributions are going to have this fantastic level of out of the box, pre-compiled, ready to go, software support. Anyway, after the little distra
Simon Stevens wrote:
VMWare or similar - running Windows
VirtualBox[^]? It has an Ubuntu binary distribution and, although it's not quite as easy to setup as VMWare (I've used both on Windows), it does the job quite satisfactorily.
Simon Stevens wrote:
Audio editing
Audacity[^] - although it's source only for Linux.
Simon Stevens wrote:
Programming - Languages/IDEs/Frameworks (Maybe MONO, or I might try Python)
For Python, I'd just use an editor and the Python interpreter at the command-line. That's my Python development environment under Windows and OS X, anyway! I've used PythonWin a bit, but mostly I find I don't need an idea with Python :-) Alternatively, try Eclipse + PyDev[^, I guess?
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Keep posting the updates here - it's interesting to me at least.
Simon Stevens wrote:
Image editing
F Spot[^] is pretty good. And available via the repositories.
Simon Stevens wrote:
Programming - Languages/IDEs/Frameworks
Take a look at what's offered to you in the repositories via synaptic (is that what it's called? I'm away from my Ubuntu boxes at the moment) - there's loads there. And the GCC[^] is cracking. One of the things I really like about Ubuntu is that I can get the OS is UK English. Might sound daft, but I like the fact that these guys have taken the time to spell Colour etc. properly, it's a pet annoyance for me in windows.
- Dy
-Dy wrote:
F Spot[^]
Thanks for the tips. I'll try it out.
-Dy wrote:
One of the things I really like about Ubuntu is that I can get the OS is UK English. Might sound daft, but I like the fact that these guys have taken the time to spell Colour etc. properly, it's a pet annoyance for me in windows.
:laugh: This is one of my pet annoyances[^] about .net too.
Simon
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Simon Stevens wrote:
VMWare or similar - running Windows
VirtualBox[^]? It has an Ubuntu binary distribution and, although it's not quite as easy to setup as VMWare (I've used both on Windows), it does the job quite satisfactorily.
Simon Stevens wrote:
Audio editing
Audacity[^] - although it's source only for Linux.
Simon Stevens wrote:
Programming - Languages/IDEs/Frameworks (Maybe MONO, or I might try Python)
For Python, I'd just use an editor and the Python interpreter at the command-line. That's my Python development environment under Windows and OS X, anyway! I've used PythonWin a bit, but mostly I find I don't need an idea with Python :-) Alternatively, try Eclipse + PyDev[^, I guess?
Stuart Dootson wrote:
VirtualBox
Stuart Dootson wrote:
Audacity
Cheers. I'll try them out.
Simon
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Last week I decided to try out Ubuntu as my primary desktop OS at home. My initial experiences and observations are here[^]. Now, part 2. Following the firewall advice from the earlier discussion, I decided to install Firestarter. First thing I did was went to their website and looked for a download link. Surprisingly, there isn't one. It simply says "Firestarter is available in the Ubuntu universe repository.". So following their directions, I hit the "start" menu, and go to "add/remove programs". Sure enough, in the list is Firestarter. I'm slightly puzzled, I think surely this will just be installing from my Ubuntu CD which was released several months ago, so where do I get an up to date version? Well, I tick the box to select it and proceed with the install. Quick confirmation prompt and Woosh, Firestarter latest version is downloaded and installed in about 15 seconds, no confusing questions about where to put the files, no config. It just works. Brilliant. I love this universe repository thing. There's stacks of software there, it all just installs dead easy, it all auto updates to the latest versions. On windows, every app you want, requires finding the website, downloading, installing (and every installer is different and asks lots of confusing questions), etc. The Ubuntu repositories cuts through all the complications and just makes it all easily available. After a bit of reading about this it becomes clear there are several different repositories offering software at different levels running from "Main" which is officially supported Ubuntu software, through non-open source software ("Restricted"), community maintained software ("Universe"), and non-free software ("Multiverse"). You can configure which of these repositories are made available to you through a nice little GUI app found in the administrative tools menu. Obviously, there's nothing stopping you from going to the vendors site and following the traditional Linux route of downloading and building the app from sources. This is a definite plus point for Ubuntu, finding and installing new software is simple and easy in comparison to windows. It's worth noting that this is an Ubuntu specific feature, not all Linux distributions are going to have this fantastic level of out of the box, pre-compiled, ready to go, software support. Anyway, after the little distra
For audio playback i use Audacious. Installed it from the repo. It's very similar to classic Winamp and it even supports Winamp 2 skins. For video, the default Totem player seemed to do the task properly, though the UI is not modern, like most media players of our time. BTW, did you install the Compiz stuff? (3D Cube, wobbly windows, etc)It's always a jaw dropper for a 'stranger' or newcomer.
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Last week I decided to try out Ubuntu as my primary desktop OS at home. My initial experiences and observations are here[^]. Now, part 2. Following the firewall advice from the earlier discussion, I decided to install Firestarter. First thing I did was went to their website and looked for a download link. Surprisingly, there isn't one. It simply says "Firestarter is available in the Ubuntu universe repository.". So following their directions, I hit the "start" menu, and go to "add/remove programs". Sure enough, in the list is Firestarter. I'm slightly puzzled, I think surely this will just be installing from my Ubuntu CD which was released several months ago, so where do I get an up to date version? Well, I tick the box to select it and proceed with the install. Quick confirmation prompt and Woosh, Firestarter latest version is downloaded and installed in about 15 seconds, no confusing questions about where to put the files, no config. It just works. Brilliant. I love this universe repository thing. There's stacks of software there, it all just installs dead easy, it all auto updates to the latest versions. On windows, every app you want, requires finding the website, downloading, installing (and every installer is different and asks lots of confusing questions), etc. The Ubuntu repositories cuts through all the complications and just makes it all easily available. After a bit of reading about this it becomes clear there are several different repositories offering software at different levels running from "Main" which is officially supported Ubuntu software, through non-open source software ("Restricted"), community maintained software ("Universe"), and non-free software ("Multiverse"). You can configure which of these repositories are made available to you through a nice little GUI app found in the administrative tools menu. Obviously, there's nothing stopping you from going to the vendors site and following the traditional Linux route of downloading and building the app from sources. This is a definite plus point for Ubuntu, finding and installing new software is simple and easy in comparison to windows. It's worth noting that this is an Ubuntu specific feature, not all Linux distributions are going to have this fantastic level of out of the box, pre-compiled, ready to go, software support. Anyway, after the little distra
music - Amarok(KDE) or Xmms pdf - kPDF, okular (both KDE) image editing - gimp I guess, for vector images inkscape IDE - eclipse, anjuta, kdevelop(KDE), monodevelop As for installations, I recomend synaptic for gui or apt-get for console.
Simon Stevens wrote:
It's worth noting that this is an Ubuntu specific feature, not all Linux distributions are going to have this fantastic level of out of the box, pre-compiled, ready to go, software support.
Actually I think most distros have their repositories, I personally find debian pretty good in that area, in fact I would recommend debian over ubuntu, but that's just me. :)
____________________________ I didn't know what to put in here.
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-Dy wrote:
F Spot[^]
Thanks for the tips. I'll try it out.
-Dy wrote:
One of the things I really like about Ubuntu is that I can get the OS is UK English. Might sound daft, but I like the fact that these guys have taken the time to spell Colour etc. properly, it's a pet annoyance for me in windows.
:laugh: This is one of my pet annoyances[^] about .net too.
Simon
Likewise. I used to have a massive header file with #defined replacements spelled properly but gave up the struggle in the end.
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For audio playback i use Audacious. Installed it from the repo. It's very similar to classic Winamp and it even supports Winamp 2 skins. For video, the default Totem player seemed to do the task properly, though the UI is not modern, like most media players of our time. BTW, did you install the Compiz stuff? (3D Cube, wobbly windows, etc)It's always a jaw dropper for a 'stranger' or newcomer.
Thanks for the tips. I used to like Winamp, so I'll defiantly give that a try.
blackjack2150 wrote:
BTW, did you install the Compiz stuff? (3D Cube, wobbly windows, etc)
Well, I noticed the wobbly windows when I set the graphics settings to max, but I never saw any of the 3d cube stuff. I've seen videos though. It's looks cool, but I tend to turn things like that off after 5 minutes.
Simon
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music - Amarok(KDE) or Xmms pdf - kPDF, okular (both KDE) image editing - gimp I guess, for vector images inkscape IDE - eclipse, anjuta, kdevelop(KDE), monodevelop As for installations, I recomend synaptic for gui or apt-get for console.
Simon Stevens wrote:
It's worth noting that this is an Ubuntu specific feature, not all Linux distributions are going to have this fantastic level of out of the box, pre-compiled, ready to go, software support.
Actually I think most distros have their repositories, I personally find debian pretty good in that area, in fact I would recommend debian over ubuntu, but that's just me. :)
____________________________ I didn't know what to put in here.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Adis H. wrote:
Actually I think most distros have their repositories, I personally find debian pretty good in that area, in fact I would recommend debian over ubuntu, but that's just me. [Smile]
Oh, cool. It's just the first time I've seen anything this well utilised. I think Windows could really benefit from something like this. It would obviously need an approval program from MS, you couldn't just have any old joe sticking stuff in it. Yeah, isn't Ubuntu based on debian. I choose Ubuntu as probably the best option for a relative Linux newbie, but may try others once I get to grips with the basics.
Simon
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Last week I decided to try out Ubuntu as my primary desktop OS at home. My initial experiences and observations are here[^]. Now, part 2. Following the firewall advice from the earlier discussion, I decided to install Firestarter. First thing I did was went to their website and looked for a download link. Surprisingly, there isn't one. It simply says "Firestarter is available in the Ubuntu universe repository.". So following their directions, I hit the "start" menu, and go to "add/remove programs". Sure enough, in the list is Firestarter. I'm slightly puzzled, I think surely this will just be installing from my Ubuntu CD which was released several months ago, so where do I get an up to date version? Well, I tick the box to select it and proceed with the install. Quick confirmation prompt and Woosh, Firestarter latest version is downloaded and installed in about 15 seconds, no confusing questions about where to put the files, no config. It just works. Brilliant. I love this universe repository thing. There's stacks of software there, it all just installs dead easy, it all auto updates to the latest versions. On windows, every app you want, requires finding the website, downloading, installing (and every installer is different and asks lots of confusing questions), etc. The Ubuntu repositories cuts through all the complications and just makes it all easily available. After a bit of reading about this it becomes clear there are several different repositories offering software at different levels running from "Main" which is officially supported Ubuntu software, through non-open source software ("Restricted"), community maintained software ("Universe"), and non-free software ("Multiverse"). You can configure which of these repositories are made available to you through a nice little GUI app found in the administrative tools menu. Obviously, there's nothing stopping you from going to the vendors site and following the traditional Linux route of downloading and building the app from sources. This is a definite plus point for Ubuntu, finding and installing new software is simple and easy in comparison to windows. It's worth noting that this is an Ubuntu specific feature, not all Linux distributions are going to have this fantastic level of out of the box, pre-compiled, ready to go, software support. Anyway, after the little distra
Av isn't really necessary in linux but if you want one there are a few around. AVG[^] do it (not free but cheap). I've never used it on my Linux machines so not a recommendation - just information!
Dave
BTW, in software, hope and pray is not a viable strategy. (Luc Pattyn)
Expect everything to be hard and then enjoy the things that come easy. (code-frog) -
Thanks for the suggestions.
Adis H. wrote:
Actually I think most distros have their repositories, I personally find debian pretty good in that area, in fact I would recommend debian over ubuntu, but that's just me. [Smile]
Oh, cool. It's just the first time I've seen anything this well utilised. I think Windows could really benefit from something like this. It would obviously need an approval program from MS, you couldn't just have any old joe sticking stuff in it. Yeah, isn't Ubuntu based on debian. I choose Ubuntu as probably the best option for a relative Linux newbie, but may try others once I get to grips with the basics.
Simon
Well there were a few projects that tried to bring the concept to windows but none really took off. Even google had one, but it only had some 3-4 applications in the repositories. The most prominent one is win-get[^] I think. They all try to work like apt-get[^] which is the main installation tool for most debian based distributions like ubuntu. The gui installation tools are just a front end for it. Red Hat and SUSE distributions and their derivatives use RPM.
____________________________ I didn't know what to put in here.
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Thanks for the tips. I used to like Winamp, so I'll defiantly give that a try.
blackjack2150 wrote:
BTW, did you install the Compiz stuff? (3D Cube, wobbly windows, etc)
Well, I noticed the wobbly windows when I set the graphics settings to max, but I never saw any of the 3d cube stuff. I've seen videos though. It's looks cool, but I tend to turn things like that off after 5 minutes.
Simon
If Compiz is installed and the 3d cube effect is enabled, it works when you click & hold the middle mouse button (or scroll wheel). Also, If the focus is on the desktop, scrolling the wheel will rotate the cube by 90 degrees. Other nice features in Compiz are transparent windows, live preview in task bar (even of video), cool task switchers (like the ring one) and many, many more.
Simon Stevens wrote:
It's looks cool, but I tend to turn things like that off after 5 minutes.
Yeah, I keep it installed just to show off. :-D
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Well there were a few projects that tried to bring the concept to windows but none really took off. Even google had one, but it only had some 3-4 applications in the repositories. The most prominent one is win-get[^] I think. They all try to work like apt-get[^] which is the main installation tool for most debian based distributions like ubuntu. The gui installation tools are just a front end for it. Red Hat and SUSE distributions and their derivatives use RPM.
____________________________ I didn't know what to put in here.
It would have to be run and managed by Microsoft to take off I think. If MS supported it, and made it the standard for all their apps, then made it a requirement for the "designed for windows" logo program it could work. There would have to be 2 routes to get into it: 1 for commercial/paid for apps, the app would be fully validated by MS, the software company could pay a fee for validation and inclusion in the repository as a commercial app. Users would be able to pay for the app through the repository software, and have it auto download, install and update. The second route would be for free/open source apps. It would still require some level of MS approval to prevent virus writers and so on, but would be free to get into. These apps could appear below the commercial ones to provide extra intensive to the commercial apps to take the paid for route into the repository. The justification for MS: Improved control over the software general users install. They could highlight their products as recommended. If all categories were well covered it would reduce the number of general users downloading and installing dodgy spyware/virus ridden software.
Simon