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thefish123
December 15th, 2009, 05:42 PM
Hi everyone,

I am running Ubuntu 9.10 and love it. Best version yet. Found that 9.04 was a little buggy and would often hang on shutdown and stuff like that. 9.10 brings back the stability that I had with 8.10 and many improvements.

Anyway... I have heard much about the new “Software Center” that is part of Ubuntu 9.10 and which replaces the Add/Remove Applications feature of previous versions. I just have one question. Perhaps I am overlooking something obvious.

One major feature that seems to be missing is the package popularity “star rating” feature. I really like this feature on previous versions. It can be a huge help in deciding which package to install when two or more packages seem to offer a lot of the same functionality. In the “Linux world” it has been my experience that the “cream of the crop rises to the top”. The most popular package is probably the most popular for a reason. Sure, sometimes you have to do a little Googling and read some posts but often times the difference between 5 stars and 2 stars is enough to make the decision for me.

This feature seems to be totally missing from the “Software Center”. Or am I overlooking something very obvious?

I actual resorted to installing the “Add/Remove Applications” tool (which now appears under System > Administration) just to regain this feature.

So, am I missing something? Or is this feature indeed absent from “Software Center”? Or am I the only one who finds it so helpful?

Best regards,

The Fish

audiomick
December 15th, 2009, 05:45 PM
I like that feature too, although I install most things through the synaptic package manager.
Haven't seen the software centre yet so I can't comment on that.

howefield
December 15th, 2009, 05:45 PM
The Software Centre as you know is a new feature and has many plans for improvement over the next few months/years including the ability to rate and compare that you want to see.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoftwareCenter#Roadmap

thefish123
December 15th, 2009, 06:00 PM
The Software Centre as you know is a new feature and has many plans for improvement over the next few months/years including the ability to rate and compare that you want to see.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoftwareCenter#RoadmapYes, I know it is new. But I just wanted to see if perhaps I was overlooking something obvious.

So there is not some not-so-obvious way to turn this feature on in the existing Software Center? Am I correct in thinking the only way to get this functionality back right now is to install the “Add/Remove Applications” tool?

That's fine with me (it doesn't bother me) but I just wanted to make sure there wasn't some hidden checkbox somewhere.

Thanks,
The Fish