Thanks for chiming in, and appreciate the comments from @seb128 too 
Ok, letâs let this sit until after release, I get youâre all very busy at this time.
Can we at least detail in the release notes the âwork aroundsâ (command line, install gdebi, or whatever other options we come up with) prior to release?
Iâm assuming you mean promoting it to latest/stable track? Sadly its not that simple, because that promotion impacts all active ubuntu releases. For example, 22.04 would be moved from the Software Center to App Center and support for firmware updates would be lost in an LTS.
As @seb128 mentioned above, I think the best way forward is to add .deb handling to the App Center. We started work on this before Christmas, but had to deprioritise it and focus on our provisioning overhaul because those changes have a hard deadline (needs to land in the ISO) whereas the App Center can be updated later.
Hi Tim 
No sorry I meant âonlyâ for 24.04+, if this is possible.
If the deb sideloading is coming then I think we have something to be looking forward to and focus on porting features and design (there are still many issues with the layout, padding, placement of widgets, fully adaptive views like the old app page and consistency) to the new code base 
and can probably all return to that GitHub issue.
I just thought that deb sideloading would be something critical for the launch of 24.04.
Installing google chrome is certainly something that happens very often, even though I personally prefer firefox unless I need to use a PWA. And currently people download it and there is simply no way to install this.
I agree that itâs important. We need to get that fixed and start on all the other things we want to improve ⌠I donât have a date I can commit to but rest assured App Center is near the top of our list.
I am a user and as I understand it the official purpose of the ubuntu app center is to âdeliver a tailored, intuitive and accessible way for users of all experience levels to find the apps that they needâ https://github.com/ubuntu/app-center/issues/126#issuecomment-1253972414
That is great and I agree that is the purpose of the store. However it doesnât even come close to fullfilling that role. The features that are lacking should be obvious but I will spell them out.
The store only supports Snaps. Not all applications are available in Snaps. The âbestâ version of an application is not necessarily available through a snap even if it is available in a Snap.
Resolution:
The âintuitive and accessible wayâ for all users is to present these options with one listing for an application set to a default for the âbestâ version of an application. IMHO, best should mean the highest version number. If version numbers are equal between offerings then then prioritize whichever version is officially maintained by the developer. If multiple are officially maintained by the developer then prioritize in some other manner (this should be configurable).
Snaps are vocally opposed by many (maybe even the majority, we donât have statistics on this) linux users. This app center only supporting them and Ubuntuâs continued stance on not allowing out of the box support for flatpak/flathub is negatively affecting the marketshare of Ubuntu Desktop.
Users have spoken. They want debian package support in their software center and they want flatpak support in their software center. Supporting these packaging formats is necessary for âusers of all experience levels to find the apps that they needâ.
Many developers have spoken and they chose flathub and not snapcraft to host their applications. Why? Well this isnât the place for that (they are many blog posts going into great detail on the factual reasons) but the summary of it is the flatpak works in many more places that snaps donât (eg: distros that arenât ubuntu) and are available to install in GUI software stores out of the box on (much) more linux distributions than snaps.
Given all of this. The new software center is a pretty clear regression from GNOME software (previously the default).
Folks, please stay on topic.
The topic is very specific. Itâs about GUI .deb support.
Folks who want to discuss other topics are very welcome to open other topics.
Hello,
flatpak was not my topic, I am happy with Snap as it is currently. The previous GNOME-based Snap Store also didnât support flatpak, so this is not a regression.
If you want to use flatpak, there is maybe even an improvement in Gnome 46/Ubuntu 24.04, because possibly a gnome-software package split is planned:
So you could use the Ubuntu Store for Snap + DEB, and you can use gnome-software exclusivly for flatpak.