Online Repositories Vs. Stores

One could easily get software for Linux through various repositories available to users. Most distros would have repositories which could be accessed via package managers. However, Novell thinks about opening a store dedicated to making open source software available to users — wouldn’t that be redundant?

Matt Asay’s blog entry challenges this idea of an open-source apps store. He pointed out:

But this almost seems counterproductive for Novell. For years open-source companies have had to combat the idea that “open source” is synonymous with “free.”

So with that, would a store be really helpful to new users who have been used to Windows and buying software from online stores?

I think that the pressing issue here is how do we address the mentality of users. Opening a store with totally free software might be counterproductive indeed, as pointed out by Asay. If you have a store with everything on its shelf is free, would that lead to users always thinking about software being free as in free beer? Well, repositories do have free for download and installation software so people could think that it’s free as in free beer and that’s that.

Will Novell be selling software eventually? I wonder. What do they see that repositories do not address well?

I think that repositories are good enough to meet the needs of users. A store might get confusing because the analogy is skewed if they will offer only free (as in free beer) software. Some stores do offer freebies but they still have something to sell that is their specialty.

Also, this store and repositories issue is a reminder that as advocates of free and open source software, we should find ways to teach others about it well. If it involves making better analogies for the new users, then we should do that. We cannot let people be confused these things.