KUbuntu and Muon Discover

[Jonathan Thomas]

As project maintainer for the Muon Suite, the way I see things going
is keeping the existing QWidget-based Muon Software Center throughout
the life of Qt/KDE4, as it will integrate best with the current
Qt/KDE4 QWidget-based environment. I'll probably port the existing
Software Center to Qt5 when the switch occurs in major distributions,
but development will pretty much be "finished" in that no more new
features will be added. Qt5 will remain mostly source-compatible with
Qt4,so this shouldn't be more than just changing a few #includes in
the source code. Essentially, the current Software Center will go in
to maintenance mode.

When KDE Foundations 5 bears fruit and we get a comprehensive
KDE-standard way of writing QML applications (The Qt QML Desktop
Components currently targeted for release for Qt 5.1 or 5.2 seem to be
a prime candidate for this) is the time when I see Muon Discover
"taking over the reigns" as the official app installer of the Muon
Suite. I believe Aleix has even made a branch in Git that uses the
alpha version of the QML Desktop Components. My main concern is that
KDE apps will "jump the gun" with QML and start to re-implement all
their widgets and themes in QML and lose coherence with the rest of
the KDE desktop, and I don't want that to happen with Muon.

But as it stands, Muon Discover currently uses Plasma QML components
for widgets/theming and integrates beautifully with the Plasma Active
environment. I could very well see shipping Muon Discover next release
as part of Kubuntu Active.

On Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 6:36 PM, James <james.cain.25 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tuesday, April 24, 2012 04:19:19 PM Aleix Pol wrote:
>
>> Hi!
>
>> As some of you will know already, I've been working on a new Muon
>
>> sub-project called Muon Discover. The idea of this application is to
>
>> provide a comfortable application where we can navigate through all
>
>> repositories browse the available applications and provide the
>
>> (hopefully) best tool to find the closest to what the user's looking
>
>> for.
>
>>
>
>> Here there's a video displaying what it does, in case you're just curious:
>
>> http://proli.net/meu/netrunner/muon-installer-qml-8.ogv
>
>>
>
>> We have created a ppa providing this (and some other stuff):
>
>> https://launchpad.net/~cyberspace/+archive/cyber-stuff
>
>>
>
>> I'm sending this e-mail because I'd like to know what the KUbuntu
>
>> community thinks about this, so if you happen to have comments about
>
>> this, don't hesitate to answer here or contact me.
>
>>
>
>> Also I'd like to remind the kubuntu community that the
>
>> screenshots.debian.org service is responsible for feeding us the
>
>> screenshots that will be displayed to the future KDE applications
>
>> users, so some initiative for making sure KDE applications are
>
>> properly represented there would be helpful, because at the moment
>
>> it's not on the best state (proofs [1]). I have created some tools for
>
>> this if somebody is interested.
>
>>
>
>> Cheers!
>
>> Aleix
>
>>
>
>> [1]
>
>> http://screenshots.debian.net/package/kmail
>
>> http://screenshots.debian.net/package/kontact
>
>> http://screenshots.debian.net/package/kdevelop
>
>> http://screenshots.debian.net/package/okular
>
>
>
> This looks like a great start and also a much-needed tool for deepening the
> end-user's experience. We are all maily used to the "app store" philosophy
> now, and this is especially true for new Linux users who are used to an
> Apple or Android-type experience. Also, I really like the sort options!
>
>
>
> One question for discussion however: How can all this be presented properly
> to the end user so that it is not confusing? There is already potential
> confusion withon Muon itself: new users do not understand the difference
> between the Muon Package Manager and Muon Software Center, let alone throw
> in Muon Update Manager. See here for expample
>
>
>
> Do you see this as a replacement for the Muon Software Center? Keep up the
> good work :)
>
>
>
> - James Cain
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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