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A Dell Software Distribution Channel / Package Management Tool By patsoe,  Feb 21, 2007

Something in the spirit of Debian's apt (i.e. a trusted source of packages, no worries about breaking your system by getting some obscure software, easy searching), and in the spirit of Apple's iTunes (i.e. if it's easy to get it there, from a nice looking online shop that integrates well with your system, people won't get it illegally).

While I'm an Ubuntu user and don't really need this myself (jay, I've got apt!), I can see how great it would be to be able to browse for new software in an environment similar to Debian's aptitude on Windows too.

Example: say I need anti-virus software. I open the "Dell Software Package Manager" (DSPM), search for "anti-virus", and get a choice of Norton AV, McAfee AV, TrendMicro, AVG, and whoever else is willing to sell their merchandise through Dell's channels. I can trust that whichever package I choose, it has been tested to not compromise my system. I click on the package of choice, confirm that my credit card will be charged for it, and the DSPM deploys it on my system.

The offerings could be a mix of free and non-free software. Also, it could solve the problem of the free-trial software that many users loathe: instead, when a user starts looking for a new package, the DSPM can offer a free-trial download at that point - rather than cluttering up the system to begin with.

Also, Dell could charge support costs if users break their system by installing "untrusted" software by themselves (which I suppose make for a considerable amount of support cost right now?).
patsoe160.0
  Wed Feb 21 12:02:58 GMT 2007
Comments: 3
Categories: New Product Ideas  Software  
Status:Acknowledged


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By patsoe  Feb 21, 2007
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To add to my original post: this is a project that only a very big OEM like Dell could be able to pull off. To maximize the reach of this tool, Dell would need to actively offer it as a download to all their existing users too.
By henkpoley  Mar 29, 2007
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Yes, a sane package manager would be really nice. btw, Google is doing something similar with their Google Pack.
By phubert28  Mar 29, 2007
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This is already available from various Linux distributions and the Linspire/Ubuntu deal looks to me to be made-to-order for Dell's Linux offering for just this reason. An OSS software _extension_ so-to-speak for Dell Windows platforms would be great as well...

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