Promoting Ubuntu Software Centre

[Antti Kaijanmäki]

On 19.10.2011 16:25, Jesse Smith wrote:
> Depending on the audience, it might also be a good idea to point out the
> Software Centre (and developer portal) is open to all types of software
> (open source, commercial, non-free, etc). One of the things I really
> like about Ubuntu's repositories is their willingness to encourage free
> software while making non-free options easily available. It's something
> that's not really offered in other big projects like Fedora or Debian.

I at least would like to see some emphasis on the commercial software 
aspect now that it's available. We should get the word out that software 
center now offers a competitive platform for commercial vendors to 
publish their software easily for tens of millions of potential new 
customers and offer more choices. Combine this with build services and 
direct integration to the operating system we now have a combination 
that no other platform is currently offering.

I see this as an important thing to do right now so that we can possibly 
have a very interesting commercial offering from 3rd parties ready by or 
soon following the LTS 12.04 launch.

However this should be done in very discrete manner so that everyone 
understands (even the most skeptical ones) that Canonical is not 
advocating commercial software over Free software. We just want to make 
Ubuntu the most interesting platform for every kind of software.

Also one important thing to remember when talking about 3rd party 
vendors is that they usually want the publishing platform to stay 
"stable" for some period of time (the longer the better) and thus we 
need to emphasize that LTS releases can offer them exactly what they 
need; a stable platform and a clear upgrade plan for that platform.

An interesting point to notice, too, is that software released on a LTS 
can withstand time even after the particular LTS reaches End of Life 
officially.


> Play up the availability of games, Adobe products, really let people
> know Ubuntu is building a one-stop place for all types of software.

My thoughts exactly.

-- 
Antti Kaijanmäki
Software Engineer
Canonical Ltd.
+358 40 0243 413
https://launchpad.net/~kaijanmaki