CNR and screenshot on Kubuntu 7.10

Linux desktop has now, yet another, way to install software... which is unlike all the other ways, sorta of. With Linspire releasing their CNR program for various GNU/Linux operating systems, there is now a common resource of over 37,000 programs.

CNR.com currently has installation software for Freespire, Linspire, and *buntu; "Coming Soon" it reads next to debian, fedora, and openSUSE. Running Kubuntu myself, I downloaded the installer .deb file and installed it with Gdebi.

After a few more steps and what seemed to be quite a grip on my OS, I finally installed the software.. to install... more... software.

I also noticed it put a constantly-running application, represented by a running man (in green), on my KDE system tray. Is that really necessary? Take off some points for that, surely. It borders on malware, that icon does.

Clicking this little icon (do regular users do such things?) opens a web browser to software selection heaven; in my Kubuntu, it opened Konqueror (screenshot is Firefox).

I browsed the pages of software, just like a web browser would. I noticed at the top of every page there was an installation link for Wine. I looked for a program which i didn't have, but wanted. There were a lot of options, and like other package managers, many of the 37,000+ applications were useless-to-Joe-Twelvepack libraries and the like. Not that I dislike this, since they are what every other application is built upon; but are they really listed as Desktop Applications?

I didn't find much, but eventually settled on Quake 2. Once I Clicked to install it, both Konqueror and Firefox asked me to open or save the file; neither was the right choice, since I had no idea what the CNR application is named (/usr/bin/cnr ?) and saving it didn't do anything on its own. Eventually I saved the file, opened a new Konqueror window to my home folder and clicked the icon, which downloaded the game and installed Quake 2. Sore, the software installed, but it wasn't as easy as Adept or apt-get or Synaptic.

Then I tried to run Quake 2, and I figured the command line was the way to go (I couldn't find it in the menus). It failed, and wouldn't run the game. I gave up.

After this first look at CNR, I think I understand the direction of the application: web-based GUI, since that is the most familiar to everyone who uses a different GUI.

Overall, it seems a bit like a rehash on an old theme, just a new face -- repository-based software installation on Linux. This really could be the start of something amazing, and i wish it well, but its obviously still young (actually, beta).

Sadly, with its enormous selection of softwares, I really was unable to find anything that my current Kubuntu + Medibuntu software repositories cannot provide; maybe I'm not trying hard enough.

I still have the client to this day, running like a little man in my system tray. Maybe one day I'll look visit him again, or maybe I'll banish him. I don't like his looks.

PS The Right-click menu bring up this option -- pretty isn't it? Not even web-based!