KUbuntu and Muon Discover

[Aleix Pol]

On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 12:36 AM, 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!

Well, the thought behind the project is that even though we've had a
strategical advantage of having software repositories, something that
proprietary services couldn't dream of just some years ago. I still
remember showing it to my (back then) boss at university, he felt the
amazing power it has but he had no interest of installing a weird
system on his computer (he actually switched from winxp to OS X, 2 or
3 years after).

GUI package managers such as synaptic the kpackagekit kubuntu had some
time ago were not useful for the end user. Not because they're stupid,
but because they're given information they're not interested about
(why does an end user even care about having libpng on a GUI?). From
my point of view, anybody who would have used these UI's could use the
CLI just as well, other users just made their way after frustration
and sadness.

I believe that's why Muon and Ubuntu Software center appeared by
providing a tool that lists just applications on your computer and
displays them by categories.

In Muon Discover, I tried to twist this definition a little bit by
trying to create a place to find resources for your computer where you
go to when you have a notion of the application you might want but you
still need to figure it out, there you can browse it or if you wish,
discover it. That is, it's not an end-user application, it's an
application that can be used by anyone. Also it was created using the
newest graphic technologies we have at the moment, i.e. QtQuick so
that we don't get constrained from the technology regarding what's
going to be presented (when reviewing Muon Installer, I considered
this could have been a show-stopper).

>
> 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 :)

I think that discover and installer are quite redundant. Also I think
that the package manager shouldn't be provided to the end user by
default. That said, I think it's up to you guys to decide what would
you like KUbuntu users to use. Like Jonathan says in the e-mail below,
the installer has some advantages too, mainly the better integration
with the Oxygen style. I'd like to solve this problem for granted and
I'm working on it, but I'm afraid it might take some time.

This shouldn't keep you guys from trying it, though. :)

>
>
>
> - James Cain
>
>
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Aleix