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Hi I recently decided to try out Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu in general out of curiosity. I really like it but have run into a strange problem.

In the beginning I had one software center from which I could download and install apps. Now I have TWO software centers after some updates have been installed. One of them is more modern and has a lot more apps in it - the other one has less apps. But both of them are there.

Surely I should only have one software app showing on my computer?

Software Center 1

Software Center 2

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    If it is a problem for you to have two programs, you can remove one of them ;-)
    – Pilot6
    Jun 26, 2016 at 14:01

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The first screenshot (window title "Ubuntu Software Center") shows the old Ubuntu Software Center (package software-center). It comes with Ubuntu up to version 15.10.

The second screenshot (window title "Software") shows the new GNOME Software Center (package gnome-software). It comes with Ubuntu since version 16.04.

The reason why you have both software center applications installed is probably because you upgraded from 15.10 or an older release to 16.04 (or later). That way the new GNOME Software Center gets installed, but the release upgrader does not remove the old Ubuntu Software Center, as they are completely unrelated packages. It simply does not know that one should replace the other - not sure whether that is a bug or a feature though...

If you want, you should be able to uninstall the old software center using this terminal command below:

sudo apt remove software-center

But please check the list of packages which are going to be removed with it! I can't tell whether any of your installed applications might depend on that package. If there are packages in the list of remove candidates which you definitely don't want to remove or about which you are unsure, it's better to leave a comment and ask for advice than to blindly remove packages.

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  • Hi thank you so much for the help. Really loving Ubuntu over Windows 10 even though it appears to be a bit less stable. The old app store you are telling me to uninstall has a LOT more apps in it than the newer software store and I do not understand this. I was watching a review on youtube from a guy on the 16.04 release and he is saying to go back to an older distro of Ubuntu as this version is not stable yet and has some bugs that need ironing out?
    – Rick Press
    Jun 27, 2016 at 15:19
  • Well, if you prefer a more stable release that had already two more years of time to sort bugs out and get tested and improved, you might prefer 14.04 LTS instead. But that's more of an opinion than a generally applicable advice.
    – Byte Commander
    Jun 27, 2016 at 15:40
  • Can I ask why is it that Ubuntu has the 4.4 kernel yet on the kernel website there is a 4.6 kernel?
    – Rick Press
    Jun 28, 2016 at 8:03
  • @RickPress Please don't post new unrelated questions in comments. Click the [Ask Question] button and post a new one, please.
    – Byte Commander
    Jun 28, 2016 at 8:12

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