| Introduction | Ubuntu is upgrading its software store to provide a smooth experience! |
As development continues, Canonical seems to be going all out to integrate Flutter-based elements into Ubuntu.
After Ubuntu 23.04 was released some time ago, we saw the Flutter-based installer. Now, another important tool of Ubuntu has also received Flutter transformation: a new software store application.
However, the existing "Software Center" will not be replaced now. Instead, Ubuntu will have a new store targeting the classic Software Center with an evolution of the community-built Flutter store.
But, you see, we anticipated this last year when we first saw the unofficial Flutter-based software hub developed by many of Canonical's contributors.
And, thanks to a recent update from Canonical's Tim Holmes-Mitra, we now have a glimpse of what the new store will look like.
Let me take you through this.
What to look forward to in the Ubuntu Store?
Initially, it was called the "App Store" but the name would need to be changed in order to avoid any legal issues with Apple, which had already registered the trademark.
The most popular one currently seems to be "Ubuntu Store", and I personally think this name will blend well into the distribution. However, the name of China's new Flutter-based software center has not yet been finalized, so we will have to wait.
Tim also mentioned:
This project is still under construction and right now our focus is on core functionality. I'm optimistic that by the time 23.10 is released, our new rating features and support for deb and more improvements will be implemented.
This suggests that if things go well, we may see the new Flutter-based Software Center integrated into Ubuntu 23.10 early in its final release.
Not only that, you can find the new Ubuntu Store as default in daily builds of Ubuntu 23.10 (Mantic Minotaur) over the next week or two.
You can refer to Tim's announcement for more details.
But wait, there’s more!
I tested the new Flutter-based store on my Ubuntu 22.04 LTS system and I must say that the user experience is far superior to our existing Software Center.
The homepage is now neatly divided into three unique sections: a header containing the search menu, a sidebar menu containing app categories and settings menus, and finally a central section containing the apps themselves.
The search functionality has been greatly improved, and results started showing up as I was typing in my search query.
The application view has also been greatly improved, with a clear source switcher between Snap and Debian packages. I'm glad to see this because not a lot of people like Snap
Want to try it on your Ubuntu 22.04 / 23.04 system?
Before you begin, keep in mind that it is still under active development and things will change as development progresses.
You will need to switch to preview/edge in Snap Store
sudo snap refresh snap-store --channel=preview/edge
If it throws an error that "snap-store" has a running application, then kill it using sudo kill -9 PID and rerun the command .
You can then run the Software app from the app launcher to test it.
To revert to the native Software Center, run the following command :
sudo snap refresh snap-store --channel=latest/stable
For more details on how the new Software Center works and to view the source code, I recommend you check out its GitHub repository.