Paid Apps section in Software Centre gets an icon

It's an icon with cash in it.

Brilliant.

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More Software Centre additions: easily install add-ons, prep app purchasing

Further to our posts on the new look software centre for Ubuntu 10.10 and the introduction of a 'where is it?' feature to help users quickly locate their installed apps there are also a handful of other additions present.

Add-ons
Applications that also have add-ons available within the Software Centre (such as Firefox, Banshee & Rhythmbox) now list these underneath the item description like so: -

Payment, baby
Also now enabled by default are various bits and bobs pertaining to the introduction of paid software, namely the Ubuntu One 'sync' of previously purchased apps on a new machine.

Alongside which the 'buy' button has added some ellipses.

The 'where is it?' icons are now also a tad smaller

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"Where is it?" - Ubuntu 10.10 Software Centre now tells you where to find your newly installed app

It is often the little things that have the greatest impact and, as such, consider me thrilled to finally see the 'Where is it?' feature implemented into the Ubuntu Software Centre/Center for Ubuntu 10.10.

What is it?
A massive usability problem for many end users was installing an application via the Ubuntu Software Centre and being left clueless as to where to launch said app from. No more; the Software Centre in Ubuntu 10.10 now tells you exactly where to find an application after installation, a small but incredibly important addition in enhancing the Ubuntu experience for first-time/new users.

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Meerkat's Software Centre gets a background...

Don't ever say we no longer keep you up-to-date with the trivial: The Ubuntu Software Centre in Ubuntu 10.10 now has a background!

Look nice, non? The background is also displayed when viewing more information on applications, which finally sees the "puke green" installation status bar replaced with a light pastel blue colour.

For comparisons sake here are some shots of the software centre in prior releases...

Lucid Lynx

Karmic Koala

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'For Purchase' entry lands in Software Store, nothing to get excited about just yet

Pictures tell a thousand words (or in OMG!'s case around 377 words)

In a recent update to the Ubuntu Software Centre in 10.10 has come a sidebar entry for paid applications. There aren't actually any paid application on offer yet, but this is yet another step towards the potentially  game-changing introduction of paid apps in the software store.

Thanks to Kyle for the heads-up

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New Ubuntu Software Center mock-up: All box, no content?

We’re big fans of the Ubuntu Software Centre and avidly follow its continued visual evolution. When a reader dropped by the OMG! Inbox to tip us off to ‘the most awesome software centre mock-ups you will have ever seen!’ I'll admit my interest was more than a little caught…

The design, created by ‘Daniel’ and posted on the Ubuntu Meerkat Wiki for feedback, revolves around revamping the current Software Centre UI into an all-singing, all-dancing cartoon-like literal “store” style concept akin to the Android Market UI, the iPad eBook UI & and similar.

And no, before you spit your cornflakes out all over your very clean keyboard, this is not an official design and nor is it likely to come to frutition. It was posted by it’s creator to stir some debate around what the USC should look like - not what is is going to look like.

Capiche? Onwards we go…

What’s wrong with the current design?

“…the Software Center is still more difficult to use than it could be.” reasons the designer. “It should ensure that users don't get lost in a sea of applications, and that they can find the best applications available for Ubuntu.”This design proposes to solve this by utilizing and adding : -

• Large icons for rapid brand recognition
• Ability to organize applications by punctuation or by name
• Donation support
• Ratings
• App download stats

Moot point

Most followers of OMG! will be aware that the majority of these points are moot.

The Canonical design and DX team have been super hard at work refining the official Software Centre vision. On course for Ubuntu 10.10 is support for ‘new applications’ added and promoted after release, improved UI, social support for sharing app suggestions, apt-link handling and, fingers crossed, user-contributable ratings support.

This proposed design, whilst contemporary looking today, would soon look out of date and old hat were Apple or Android to change their designs.

The ‘large’ icon idea has merit to an extent but for a first-time visitor to the store the sight of 12 different indistinctive application icons wouldn’t do much to inform or assist. Some great applications have very mundane icons so in the identity-parade proposed some users may end up with an inferior app based solely on the amount of gloss effect baked into a .png….

To juxtapose just how far the software store has come in a year - and to iterate that the design is still to be built upon over future releases - here is the Software Centre Version as seen in Karmic and, most recently, in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat Alpha 2: -

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Just what Will be for sale in the Ubuntu software centre Come October?

The framework for supporting paid applications in the Ubuntu Software Centre will almost certainly be in place for Ubuntu 10.10  - but what could users expect to see on sale?

Single-purpose Apps

With the advent of mobile ‘app stores’ users are fast becoming accustomed to paying a small amount of money for a decent single-purpose application, be them for social networking, reading RSS feeds or playing pong.

The popularity of mobile applications has been fuelled, in part, by the price point and the general quality of the applications of offer. Both are related: The application is cheaper to sell because it doesn’t require overly complex or laborious developing. In turn the application, because it’s not trying to me a jack of all trades and master of none, fulfils its own criterion superbly. 

We’ve already seen projects concerned with making development of applications on Ubuntu much easier for developers - such as  ‘Quickly’ ,a project aimed at ensuring development of Linux applications is simple, easy and fun.

Only time will tell whether developers see a potential here...

Games

Another stock type that may start filling up the Ubuntu Software Centres’ shelves are games.
Everyone loves a game and as whilst there are some utterly brilliant open-source games available there are plenty more scattered around going unnoticed.

By optioning the ability to bring so many great Linux friendly games in one central place developers will be able to see bigger sales and users will see greater choice.

Notable Linux friendly paid-games: World of Goo, Unreal Tournament, Defcon

Codecs & Multimedia software

Given Fluendo media playback codecs and the Power DVD playback software can already be purchased from the Canonical store it’s no stretch to imagine that these may turn up in the Software Centre for easy purchase.

Commercial Linux Software

Although Linux users are used to getting all the software needs fulfilled by free software there is a healthy market in commercial desktop-user Linux software.  Many readers will have already heard of a few - VMWare and ‘CrossOver Linux’ - a wine solution that aims to ‘seamlessly integrate Windows applications on Linux’ are quite well known but there hundreds more out there sitting almost unheard of.

We reviewed one such application last week, namely the professional photo-editing software LightZone.

Notable other Commercial Desktop applications for Linux: Pixel, Bibble, Nero,

Mega-bucks apps

Then there are the megabucks applications; applications that aren’t intended for your casual desktop users and probably won’t end up on sale in the Software Store (thankfully). From super-professional video editors, audio editors and  graphics applications to proprietary administration and accounting software - all are useful in large companies but have prices that would scare Joe Nu-user off for good!

This leads us on to…

Prices

Applications on sale in the store will need to be priced affordably and realistic. Companies must not think that just because Ubuntu is a niche OS that prices can be significantly higher than Window counterparts - this would be highly counterproductive and would either drive people back to Windows to benefit from affordable prices or, most likely, blind them to commercial applications as whole.

The other question when it comes to proprietary software is the issue of validation codes, serial numbers and licenses; unlike Windows or OS X Ubuntu has a fairly routine upgrade every 6 months so when an application is purchased what is the life of that activation and how many installs can be made using any code or activation number? What if things go wrong? These are all considerations and concerns that should start to eek out over the coming few months.

Paid apps = good news for all

As it currently exists there is no easy discoverable way for commercial applications to market themselves to Linux users. The Ubuntu Software Centre will certainly help to level the playing field but before you fear that the days of free software will soon be behind us there is one massive upside to this: paid applications will need to prove they’re worth the outlay. That means they need to run well and not just be badly implemented Wine ports. For free software this move will instigate a competitive drive to ensure that free FOSS applications are every-bit as capable as paid alternatives. 

I can’t wait for October 10th to see what range of paid software Ubuntu 10.10 launches with…

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Meerkat Software Centre UI continues to evolve adding new look, retweeting apps

The Ubuntu Software Centre developments for Ubuntu 10.10 are continuing and those users currently testing out Maverick will likely have spotted a more dramatic visual over-haul of the Software Centre of late: -

To break the design down a bit - the layout of 'Departments' is excellent and more prominent in this iteration. The 'featured applications' section is still animated but looks much better in its new position. As for the 'What's new' section - count me sold! I cannot wait to see applications - 'new' applications introduced post-release as we discussed some weeks back - start to populate that. (I also really love that their running with the 'store' metaphor)

Another feature now working, which has been present for a wee while, is the ability to ‘tweet’ your favourite applications, complete with apr:url for one-click install via Gwibber directly from the software centre itself.

Thanks to Cullen

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Latest app releases to be made available in Ubuntu 10.10

Many of the applications we feature here on OMG! Ubuntu! require the installation of a 3rd party PPA for they are either not available via the Software Centre or the version available in the store has been superseded.

That is on course to change for Ubuntu 10.10 with the introduction of a new policy for installing new and updated software in the Ubuntu Software Centre from Ubuntu 10.10 onwards.

Status Quo

As mentioned above, users currently have to manually add a third party PPA, pull a branch, compile some source or install a .deb in-order to get the latest features from stable releases of their favourite applications.

Ubuntu, by default, only ships with the versions ‘frozen’ in a few weeks before its release. This is to ensure users are only given stable, tested and secure software. Admirable, non?

Much to the chagrin of active users the frantic nature of Open Source software development means the versions in Ubuntu are more-often than not left outdated within a few months. Banshee in particular is a great example of this.

The change

With the aim to to deliver new applications to users through Ubuntu Software Centre in Maverick a slight change in the Ubuntu Software interface will be required in-order to ‘highlight’ new and updated versions of applications.

The semantics of how Update Manager will handle updates to ‘new apps’ is still being decided upon however in the case of later stable releases of already installed software it would make sense to auto-upgrade (so long as the ‘newer’ version had been thoroughly tested. The ‘new-apps’ will likely be hosted at extras.ubuntu.com.

There are issues with introducing a method like this, not least of which is balancing dependency issues, but the goal is worth it. More often than not users only want to install one specific new app from a PPA but instead find half their install upgraded too.

Submit

To do this a new application submission process will be introduced for developers wishing to have their applications included in the Software Centre. This will stretch to ‘post release’ cases too. The finer details of that process are still being finalised but a refined submission process is much needed - many developers have been put off submitted their applications for inclusion due to the ungainly nature of the current process.

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Install Ubuntu 10.10's Slick Software Centre in Lucid

Earlier today we showed off some of the progress being made on the next version of the Ubuntu Software in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat - including a brand new super slick animated 'Featured Apps' bar.

There is, of course, lots more currently going on with the development version of the software centre than just visual flair - there are bug fixes, performance improvements & a new option to share install links via micro-blogging services directly from the Software Centre itself.

Install Maverick's updated Software Centre in Lucid

You don't need to dip your toes in the waters of temptation to start benefiting/tearing your hair out over the latest development version of the Ubuntu mall as the awesome Guido Iodice mailed us to share with you that he maintains a back ported version in his exhaustive PPA (which is only recommended for those who are okay with bleeding edge packages, potential new bugs & more than their fair share of breakages every now and then.)

• sudo add-apt-repository ppa:guido-iodice/guiodiclucid
• sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install software-center

Thanks Guido!

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Maverick Software centre adds animated apps bar

Disclaimer: The screenshots and video contained herein are of an ‘in-development’ application and as such do represent nor constitute the final, end product.

The Ubuntu Software Centre continues to excite with it’s development as it errs ever closer to the draft goals.

Today saw a rather exciting new update to the ‘featured apps bar’ we mentioned a few days back- it’s now animated! Sliding through all of the feature apps in turn it is both eye-catching and informative. Cycled applications can be clicked on, arrows allow you to cycle back and forth in case an app catches your eye and the animated bar can be collapsed if so wished.

A great update so early on in the development of the software store this cycle - lets hope there are no issues so it remains for all to gawp at come October.

Video of the animated bar in action. Colours are “off” so squint & pretend the orangey-pink is just orange!

Image credit: Nate Wiebe

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Ubuntu Software Centre Gets Brand New Look for Lucid; Paid software to feature soon?

The Ubuntu Software Centre in Ubuntu 10.04 got a new look store front today, trading its old colourful drapes for elegant whites and greys. Note: Clicking on the pictures below will take you a full-sized version. The 'Featured' button is now very prominently displayed - great news for the 19 applications selected within. The application view has also been re-jigged and brightened up with the screenshots now featuring more prominently at the bottom of the application blurb rather than to the right hand side. My unobservant eye also spots a new 'Themes and Tweaks' category for the first time. Despite all of the current "stock" in the software store being free the installation label still takes heed to mention this specifically: - Perhaps a hint at the future non-free software to be made available via it coming a little sooner thane expected? Or just a small reassurance to new users that this is still software-libre? Time will tell... Conclusion The new look store not only looks professional it screams it. Whilst there are still issues to be addressed with the current layout of the store (for example: is the side-pane really needed?) the applications handles much more intuitively than version before - thanks in part to the addition of two navigation buttons. The decision to enlarge and reposition the application screenshots in application view is bang on; seeing as well as reading about an application can really help you decide whether or not it's worth your bandwidth downloading.

Thanks to om26er

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Ubuntu Software Centre Adds 2 More 'Featured' Apps

Two more applications have been added to the 'Featured' section of the Ubuntu Software Centre in Ubuntu 10.04. 3D creation tool Blender and publication software Scribus join graphics favourite The GIMP and lightweight word processor Abiword.

With more applications yet to be added - what would you choose to sit alongside the above apps on the 'Featured' shelf?

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Ubuntu Software Centre Gets Star Ratings & Reviews

The Ubuntu Software Centre gained star-ratings and reviews for application selections in a recent update to the current development release, Ubuntu 10.04. Well, sorta. I'll explain.

Although you can see the star ratings and number of "reviews" within the software centre, you can't actually rate anything yet. The ability to rate applications will be implemented over the course of Lucids' development. How rating will work in Lucid To rate an application in Lucid you will be asked to sign in with your Ubuntu 'Single Sign-On' account - better known currently known as a Launchpad account. (This account will have uses further along the line with the Ubuntu Music Store. Stay tuned!) Once signed in you will be presented with the following pop-up window: - Okay, so it won't look exactly like that but you can get the gist. Once you're neatly signed in you will then be able to enter your review in a window like so: - Okay, so once again the actual window dialogue doesn't exist yet but the above diagram gives you a very precise indication of what form it will take. As for the reviews themselves, it seems they are intended to appear beneath the 'install' buttons within the app-preview window. Exciting stuff!

Images 2,3 copyright Mark Shuttleworth,

Fellow bloggers: If you first find out about a story via omg!ubuntu! it'd be smashing if you could reference the fact in your own posts.

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12 Days of Xmas: Day Seven - Ubuntu Software Centre

"What?????" people scream.
"Serious." I say back, nodding.

Yes the Ubuntu Software Centre is my 6th favourite application of the year!

It was one of the Karmic Koalas' big selling points - an easier more efficient way to find and install applications and it certainly did what it set out to do in Karmic - making a saner, calmer, easier to naviagate "add/remove" replacement. 

By Ubuntu 11.04 it will have replaced pretty much ever software installation method - from Synaptic to Gdebi.

The mock-up (subject to change) paints it like so: -

Lucid
In the mean time we'll be getting iteration two in Lucid Lynx, bringing with it: -

• Non-Application package management presented in an "understandable way"
  
• Subcategories for applications 
• Non-Application packages such as fonts, screensavers, etc
• Review and rating system
• Apt-URL launches Software Centre on appropriate screen
• Instructions on where to find the launcher for your newly installed apps
  

It may not be the fabled one-stop-shop just yet, but for taking its first tentative steps on the road of redefining software installation, the USC gets a pat on the back from us.

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Ubuntu Software Store Renamed

The new "Ubuntu Software Store" has been renamed to “Ubuntu Software Center”  - caving in to users dissatisfaction over the choice of name.

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