I am getting annoyed by irregularities in Software Store. My observations:
Explore Tab, shows duplicate ticked entries for apt apps delivered as standard with Core.
Explore Tab, shows single ticked entries for apt apps I have installed myself from Software Store.
Installed Tab, shows no entries for for apt apps I have installed myself from Software Store. (but they appear as single entries in Explore Tab.
I have done commands prescribed to work round issues but when Store cache is renewed it is always the same.
Does this observation help towards fixing the Software Store, which I consider a vital component of ZorinOS for newbies migrating from Windows etc. I also use Synaptic, but that was post newbie for me.
Anyone that uses that store daily or very often almost surely will experience a certain bug at every usage, every time I open it I usually see my blank installed software list, unmet dependencies attempting uninstallations, endless software searches and other dang issues. When it doesn't work properly I just close and use it next time that it will work, I'm tired of fixing its issues manually.
Gnome Software Store is Simple.
It is non-verbose, which I consider a bug, not a feature.
For many users coming from Windows, they have certain expectations from the Windows Store.
Gnome Software Store, on the surface, most resembles it.
Personally, I consider the Gnome Software Store to be a stepping stone toward more user immersive package management systems.
It serves its purpose.
Once users begin to encounter issues with it, we can begin to guide them toward other means by boosting their confidence and helping them to explore what they initially may have thought of as too intimidating.
The only thing that comes to mind for me is KDE’s Discover. I feel the latest releases have improved to the point it seems more stable and reliable than gnome software, at least on Ubuntu based systems. It handles all the same packages as gnome software.
But Discover isn’t perfect either. Probably for the average user it’s not as good for enabling them to discover new software as gnome software or the elementary App Store/ pop! Shop.
Also, if you want to install or remove individual applications it’s fine. But if you want to batch remove or install nothing beats the terminal or something like synaptic. Discover feels so clunky attempting concurrent operations. Only flatpaks work well then, because there aren’t so many dependency checks and password prompts to deal with.
I think software stores in general would benefit from some kind of queue.