Linux App Store, new "store" of applications for Linux

Linux App Store

It is not the first nor will it be the last one, but here is the Linux App Store, a new "store" of applications for Linux whose objective is to facilitate the installation of applications in Linux by gathering them all in one place.

According to its developers on the project page on GitHub, «Linux App Store does not favor one distribution over another. The Linux App Store does not favor one packet format over another. Our goal is simply to make the software you use more accessible to you. " The problem, they explain, is that Flatpak, Snap and AppImage already have their application stores, FlatHub, Snap Store and AppImageHub, in which, as is evident, they only maintain applications in their respective formats. Thus, the purpose of the Linux App Store is to function as an intermediary of these with a single interface.

They also mention GNOME Software, which highlights defects such as being built in GTK, putting applications before GNOME, being slow and with errors, with an equally slow development and an outdated interface. On the contrary, the Linux App Store "is not based on GTK, but on modern web technologies". And is that Linux App Store is exactly that, at least for now: a web portal where they collect applications in all three formats, but without allowing their installation (hence the quotes in "store"). That will be the next thing they implement, just as they are developing a desktop application that smells like Electron before they start, which is not a bad thing per se.

In the short FAQ they have published they also indicate the intention to promote only free and free applications, only for desktop and, perhaps in the future, also add applications in Deb and RPM format. When asked "Why another App Store?", They reply: "We want to make an App Store that has no bias towards a specific distribution, a desktop environment or a package format. We also want to make an application store that simply works ".

Loables objectives and ideals those of the developers of Linux App Store, but much I am afraid that they are not going to take in coming face to face with reality: the interface of your shop is anything but modern and accessible, which you can polish with time; and most importantly: there is a world of resources to discover and get applications for Linux; but they are that, resources. Most users have almost everything they need in the software managers of their distribution, be it GNOME Software, Plasma Discover or others, where Flatpak and Snap are already integrated.