Thread by @DanielFore

I think some Linux users get frustrated because they’re very attached to this idea of a software distribution and they don’t want to accept the App Store model that mainstream operating systems use: 🧵

Traditionally a Linux distribution exists to package and distribute third-party software. Distribution maintainers aren’t typically the same people writing the software they distribute. They are software publishers as opposed to authors

like other publishers, they editorialize and market on behalf of authors. They make changes in the form of distro patches and do integration and QA work so that they can publish this software as part of a larger repository. These published apps are part of a Linux distribution

This is not how mainstream operating systems approach app stores. If you want to publish an app on iOS, Android, the Windows store, or the Mac App Store, you not only write the software but you package it and you submit it for approval and if it needs changes, you do the changes

Apple doesn’t carry downstream patches in the App Store and if an app author doesn’t submit their app, it’s not in the store. Firefox was not on the App Store when it first came out. Or Photoshop. Or anything. Not until someone submitted it and it was approved

This is what we mean when we say that @elementary OS is not a Linux distribution. We don’t package or patch other people’s apps on their behalf. We don’t have maintainers. It’s not a goal to go and distribute other people’s apps for them.

It’s not like a marketing thing. It’s that we just don’t follow that model of software publishing. We don’t follow the Linux distro model. So you shouldn’t expect things to adhere to that model

And AppCenter is a regulated marketplace. Which means that it is very intentional that some apps cannot be published there. Because we want to be able to make promises about the apps that are published there. This doesn’t mean those apps are bad or forbidden, they just don’t fit

Which is why sideloading and third party repositories are an important and expect part of the app installation model on elementary OS and why we’ve put work into making it a smooth experiencing.

We know that there are apps that are useful and important and will never rewrite to fit into AppCenter’s guidelines. That’s why we made it super easy to get them from a third party store

I understand that this is very different from what people are used to with Linux distributions. But that’s kind of our whole thing. We’re not here to make another Linux distro for Linux users. We’re making an operating system to get people off of proprietary ones

Don’t cook breakfast and rant at the same time. Typos. Typos everywhere

“What promises?”

Primarily that the app has been tested on elementary OS and that the author intentionally has distributed for and cares about our users. But also that someone checked to make sure the app listing is honest and up to date, the app works, permissions are okay, etc

Toolkit requirements ensure that system features like UI scaling and a11y tools work correctly and improve the probability that apps support dark mode, use notifications properly, etc. We make sure apps publish with the elementary Flatpak runtime to keep your download sizes small