An update on ~~App Store~~ Ubuntu Store

Project Discussion Desktop
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Hi there community! :star2:

I’m here to share our plans and progress on the new Flutter-based app store. As we all know, plans can evolve, so please bear that in mind.

1. WORK IN PROGRESS

This project is still very much under construction and right now our focus is on core features. I am optimistic that by 23.10’s launch our new approach to ratings and deb support will have landed as well as many more improvements.

If you want some indication of where we’re going with ratings, checkout Cassidy James’ blog on App ratings which is similar to the approach we’ve been working on. More details on this soon!

2. Summer break time :sunny::beach_umbrella:

Many from our squad, including yours truly, are recharging with much-needed vacation time. Bear with us if our responses are a tad delayed in the next few weeks.

3. There are now no-less than three software stores and yes it’s confusing!

Yes, it’s a tad bewildering, but we currently have three software stores: classic Ubuntu Software, Community Flutter Store, and its evolution which I’ll call Ubuntu Store.

Our intent is for LTS versions to stick with the classic Ubuntu Software for now. Back porting discussions may happen in the future, but that’s for another day. The Community Flutter Store will remain accessible on the preview track. Once the Ubuntu Store is ready, we’ll consider sunsetting the preview track. In the next week or so the Ubuntu Store will be available as default on mantic.

So in summary:

4. What’s in a name?

Initially we wanted to name it App Store as a move from form-centric naming (i.e. emphasising the technology) towards function-centric naming (i.e. stressing this is about user space apps). Disappointingly, it looks like Apple trademarked App Store and so we’ll need to avoid that name.

But Tim Ubuntu Software is function-centric!?

– future reader

You’re correct future reader, but there’s more to it. The underlying snap is actually called snap-store which is form-centric and there are other places where we’re emphasising ‘snap’ rather than ‘app’ (see refresh awareness). So, this is bigger than the name on the tin.

My current favourite is Ubuntu Store but I’m keen to hear your suggestions.

5. Where can I find the code?

The new store is on the dev branch at ubuntu/app-store – yes we’ll need to rename the repository again.

In the coming weeks we’ll tag the Community Store’s HEAD making it easy to reference it in the future, and then, we’ll likely merge dev into main. The aim is to preserve community contributions and show that Ubuntu Store is a continuation of the community effort. Another approach could be renaming the main branch to reflect its lineage and rename the dev branch to main. Regardless of which approach is used the guiding light is to accurately celebrate Ubuntu Store’s provenance.

What do you think?

6. Ready for a preview?!

https://youtu.be/CyYj0kQSWqU

Okay that sums up the latest from our end. As ever, keen to hear your thoughts and feedback.

Best,

Tim

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Gnome Software is really a pain, Snap Store seems OK. The new Flutter Ubuntu Store looks promising, since the Flutter based installer in 23.04 is really fast!

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My vote (not that I have a vote) is for Ubuntu Store. I think it fits nicely.

I think the preview looks great!

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I tried the new snap Ubuntu Store.
It is good, I like the Snap store as well.
sudo snap refresh snap-store --channel=preview/edge
sudo kill -9 pid number
sudo snap refresh snap-store --channel=preview/edge
change back to the origional
sudo snap refresh snap-store --channel=latest/stable
I left mine with the new Ubuntu Store on my 22.04.
Source of info: https://fostips.com/ubuntu-23-10-adopt-flutter-software-app/

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The preview looks great!

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The “Ubuntu Store” isn’t published yet … the preview track holds the community store.

@dloose can you confirm please?

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Correct, preview holds the community store. We’ll publish the new store in a separate channel this week.

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The “community store” after changing to preview=edge
looks more simplistic and streamline. ‘Seams to be’ i.e. Easier to find what you need. Is this the framework for
the new store?

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@bernard010

The community store (@madsrh, many other and me mostly responsible) had a period in development where canonicals designers participated in sharing design and we all brainstormed a lot in the discussions tab.
I think the canonical store will continue on some of the ideas but things can look in X places different.

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I would also +1 the “Ubuntu Store” name. It’s immediately recognizable for current and new users who have come to expect that naming convention.

Awesome work as always Desktop team and Flutter friends!

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If we call it “Ubuntu Store”, will there be an unbranded version alongside in the snap store?

With the old name the tool made clear that is was universally usable on all distros to manage your snaps…

While I understand why we want to have a branded version on the ubuntu desktop, we’re on the other hand trying hard to make clear that snaps are an universal package format and not distro centric, the old naming kind of supported that, as would “App Store” …

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If it was called the “Canonical Store”.
Would it make sense that it is not <“distro centric”>.

Honestly I figure that the best idea is ask @sabdfl
to select the store name. Who names the release code
names?

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@bernard010 …

@tim-hm asked us what our opinion on the store name is and you tag the canonical CEO :smiley:
Why?

I must admit I thought something with Ubuntu in the name is nice, but @ogra has a very good point there.
Though snaps should make it possible to ship multiple snaps inside the snap-store, which different names for different distros
But this is why I initially started the project under “software” to make it sound as generic as possible

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I prefer the name Snap Store

  1. The Store is not only for Ubuntu, but for every other OS that supports snap. If I install the snap-store package on Debian, Kubuntu or any other distribution, it would be weird if it is called Ubuntu Store.
  2. The name Snap Store equals to the package name snap-store
  3. The Snap Store name represents continuity and shows that Canonical/Ubuntu stand behind Snap. It thus strengthens the brand.
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My 5cents. Ubuntu Store is cool, but since we can install it in other distros, I’d pick a more independent name. Soon we’ll be able to install snaps on Ubuntu Touch :slight_smile: .

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I think the store from the debian package “gnome-software” is just called “Software” right now. I.e vanilla gnome-software. (Or is that a fourth option compared to the picture above?)

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Well gnome-software with only flatpak sources and deb works great but yeas it feels a bit unfinished

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My vote (not that I have a vote), in order to underline the “distro-agnostic” nature of the store, is for “App Center”.
The new Store UI is really good. I’d like to see the apps name a lot bigger than it is right now (but maybe I have to post this suggestion in another discussion).

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I installed the new snap-store preview/edge: 0.3.0-alpha 2023-08-14 (1017)
for Debian packages I see only the installed ones with the option to ‘Remove’ but seems impossible to install other Debian packages.

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Maybe Canonical should think about past mistakes with its Snapstore Server Suite and also with Software Center Agent which caused a lot of trouble with its corporate users back in 2014 when Canonical changed mind about its Ubuntu approach.

Think that some contractors from community should care for interesting things of Canonical mind…