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View Full Version : How 3rd parties could distribute Ubuntu software on CD


maybeway36
October 2nd, 2007, 06:17 PM
I was just thinking, since Ubuntu installs software with APT from freely accessible websites, how could 3rd-party companies sell people Linux software? I think I might have an answer.
There would be a program that resides on the CD. It would be written with Xt so it would work on all Ubuntu/Debian variants (as long as they have X.) This program would act like a Windows install wizard, and it would install a .deb file from the CD and then use APT to hunt down dependincies.
What do you think? I personally would like to see some sort of consitency on how this sort of thing would work.
pondochris
October 2nd, 2007, 07:12 PM
A good idea yes but unless every bit of the program is proprietary they would have to release the source code with it. Thus hampering commercial success. Now maybe an online mmorpg or fps where you buy the game and pay a monthly subscription for connecting to the company's servers. A friend of mine pays around 30 bucks a month for a few games I know one of em is called eve online.
happysmileman
October 2nd, 2007, 07:21 PM
A good idea yes but unless every bit of the program is proprietary they would have to release the source code with it.

LGPL for this program? If not you could use BSD license or one of hundreds of others, the program they're selling won't be affected at all in most cases (using BSD license that is)
pondochris
October 2nd, 2007, 07:29 PM
Another possibility is that the 3rd party vendors develop their software so that it would work out of the box with wine. I know that utorrent is made to work on winows and wine.
happysmileman
October 2nd, 2007, 07:38 PM
Another possibility is that the 3rd party vendors develop their software so that it would work out of the box with wine.

NO!!! BAD PONDOCHRIS!!!

Wine is meant to be used for a small amount of programs that cannot be replaced on Windows, it is in no way meant to be used for day to day work, and even the wine developers themselves stress that it will never be as good as having native Linux apps, it only serves to provide as much compatibility as it possibly can.
maybeway36
October 2nd, 2007, 07:43 PM
You don't have to make software open-source for it to run on Linux. Also, the .deb could contain essentially the entire program and all its libraries if they wanted it to.
I'm just saying they could ship this along with the .run file they usually use (remeber UT2004?) to make it easier for Ubuntu users.