0

Possible Duplicate:
Why don't the Ubuntu repositories have the latest versions of software?

The way I understand the Ubuntu project from a corporate point of view is that companies can partner with Canonical and have their software placed in the Ubuntu's software center.

My question is why do some releases of programs take such a long time to load where others do not, i.e. Firefox is loaded almost immediately, whereas Skype 4.0 took weeks even months and then it was not even up to date.

Question: Whose responsibility is it to load new software and why isn't the Ubuntu Center one of the first point of calls for such uploads.

The failure to upload for instance Skype has the web go crazy with disclaimers such as its not yet available in Ubuntu. This makes the Ubuntu project seem somewhat out of date?

1
  • I don't think this is a duplicate. The other refers to packages pertaining to the Ubuntu project. I'm asking about Canonical partners with external programs such as Skype and the like. In other words, is it Skype's responsibility to update the centre or Canonical's? Aug 13, 2012 at 10:29

1 Answer 1

0

why do some releases of programs take such a long time to load where others do not

Since most programs are based on either GTK+ or Qt library, only one of these will perform efficiently depending on whether your desktop is GTK+ or Qt based. The reason for extra load is the overhead that is involved in loading the other libraries that are not native. In your case, Firefox is GTK+ that opens quickly since Ubuntu is also GTK+ based, whereas Skype is Qt based, which will perform better on a KDE based desktop such as Kubuntu, and not Ubuntu.

Whose responsibility is it to load new software and why isn't the Ubuntu Center one of the first point of calls for such uploads.

From what I understand of your question, you are trying to install new packages from the Ubuntu Software Centre. Personally, I've never liked the clunkiness of this application, and I use Synaptics package manager instead, that gives more control on what packages are installed and is transparent about the dependencies, repositories, etc. which is not the case with the Software Centre. Even performing a "sudo apt-get install" is better than that.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .