Suggestion: New version of video "The PND system"


That's a very good idea. Especially PNDManager and the repo really make a difference.


Maybe you could show off some smaller applications (fast to download/install, so you can keep the video uncut) by installing and launching them in PNDManager.
 
I hope one day the updater util gets included into PNDManager to create -> PandoraManager


I'm still not in favour of "pnd" nomenclature. Nobody calls iOS apps ipks, or android apps apks.


Why refer to Pandora apps as pnd? Nobody outside of our little circle knows what a pnd is.
 
Why refer to Pandora apps as pnd? Nobody outside of our little circle knows what a pnd is.
I guess this just happened to be what people chose to call it, and it stayed. It's fine with me, no need to try and enforce a different name now.


I personally hate the term "app" by the way. For me "app" is less than a real "program", but PNDs for me are certainly programs and not just "apps". That is probably just me though, and is caused by my low opinion of smartphones and tablets I guess.
 
I guess this just happened to be what people chose to call it, and it stayed. It's fine with me, no need to try and enforce a different name now.


I personally hate the term "app" by the way. For me "app" is less than a real "program", but PNDs for me are certainly programs and not just "apps". That is probably just me though, and is caused by my low opinion of smartphones and tablets I guess.

I like the term "PND", and I stronly dislike the term "app" as well.


So you are not the only one. :)


See also those two posts here, one by me and one by Prometheus:


http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?/topic/6473-introduction-new-member-hmc/#entry112658


http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?/topic/6473-introduction-new-member-hmc/#entry112689
 
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We should be proud to have our own packaged applications system.


.pnd FTW !
 
Why refer to Pandora apps as pnd? Nobody outside of our little circle knows what a pnd is.
I guess this just happened to be what people chose to call it, and it stayed. It's fine with me, no need to try and enforce a different name now.


I personally hate the term "app" by the way. For me "app" is less than a real "program", but PNDs for me are certainly programs and not just "apps". That is probably just me though, and is caused by my low opinion of smartphones and tablets I guess.
Couldn't have said it better (all of it)
 
Oops, I appear to have opened a pnd of worms!

We should be proud to have our own packaged applications system.

I agree here, I think overall the PND system is great. PNDManager is fantastic work, I use it all the time.


In terms of the way the general public thinks about and purchases software/digital content, I think Apps and Stores are the way of the future.


The concept of app stores is migrating from mobile devices onto desktop computers, take a look at the Mac App Store for Mac OS X, the intel AppUp store for Windows 7, even the upcoming AppStream for Linux. When people purchase/download software nowadays I think they expect it to be presented consistently, using language thats easy for them to understand.
 
Maybe the average Pandora user just likes to be a little different than the general public ^_^
 
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Well, most linux distributions utilize that concept for years now.


After all "App Store" (= Application Store = bunch of executables and data available through a uniform interface) ist just a fancy new term for software repository.
 
"App Store" to me implies 1) cheap crappy programs (like the majority of the Apple app store), and 2) for sale (hence the word "store"). Of course there are apps in the Apple app store available for free, but there's usually a catch (it's only a demo/lite/trial version, it has advertisements, or it's just extremely crappy). Most of the actual stuff (full software) costs money, although often only $0.99 or a similar low amount.


I would argue that most of the stuff on our repo is not crappy and not for sale, but available freely (and often even Freely) without a catch. This is of course because there's a lot of GNU/Linux software that can easily be compiled for the Pandora.


And yes, GNU/Linux distributions have used package managers from nearly the beginning, and they got increasingly user friendly. Actually they do much more than what the Apple app store does, because they have features like automatically resolving dependencies etc. The PND system is a bit different because packages don't really get installed, they are kept as self-contained archives, which has some advantages (put your SD card with PNDs and appdata in another Pandora and you instantly have all your stuff) and some disadvantages (doesn't work for libraries, there can be PND size bloat if it has to include lots of dependencies).
 
I have bought very high-quality software through the Apple Appstore. not cheap though. For example Logic Pro (150 Euro IIRC) and Aperture (abt. 60 Euro). The problem is, that "app stores" are flooded with crap, and it is really hard to find the gems, if you don't know them in advance.


Once I was in search for a media player for my Android smartphone (and also for my iPod Touch in the Apple appstore). I had some special requirements, e.g. it should have a GUI that's suitable for the car while driving (meaning large buttons, large title display, easy handling, good contrast), it should have the ability to rate songs with just one touch (I use the rating feature to weed out large collections of MP3, that I "ripped" from Internet Radio. From those collections, I keep maybe 1/10th or less, the remaining stuff is deleted).


What did I end up with?


I installed about 20 different "apps", that promised to be suitbale for the car. Rating was never mentioned in the feature lists, so I thoght, some would have that feature. I even bought a few of them to try them, because they had no trial mode. "it's just 99 cents, so it doesn't hurt"....


Results:


- I have found NO suitable app, neither for iOS nor for Android


- I have paid about 10 Euro to about 10 different developers that developed something I couldn't use (some of them were really crappy)


- I hate app stores. :)


Result from that:


Developers, who publish cheap useless stuff, get paid by those people, who want to find something and stumble upon such crappy apps, buy them "because it doesn't hurt".


I would rather have paid 10 Euro for ONE really good appLICATION, that does what I really want.


And I would rather have found that one by using freee trial versions of those more expensive appLICATIONS.


I think that's how software selection and purchasing worked until a few years ago...


What makes the software market drift into that wrong direction?


Is it the tact, that it gets more and more easy to develop "some" software by clicking together some code blocks and GUI elements in heavy frameworks, so that the untalented hobby developers now begin to try to make some money with crappy software?


Is it that hardware becomes more and more powerful, so that those heavy frameworks are more and more accepted (performance is acceptable), and that it's not necessary anymore to be an artist in programming (meaning: programming in a way, that performance is optimized, ressources are not wasted, despite that there are a lot of useful features)?


Nice were the days, when hardware was very limited, and software was only accepted, if it was programmed really well.


Then only talented programmers would be able to publish software, and those talented programmers had some own standards and demands to their own software. They simply WOULDN'T develop crappy stuff with useless features.
 
@ HolySmoke & _wb_


Given that you took the trouble to explain package management to me I get the feeling that you didn't understand what I'm talking about.


I am talking about a general trend in the marketing and presentation/portrayal of software and downloadable content.


@ hmc


Seems like you had some annoying experiences there. When shopping around for apps I usually let others do the hard work for me and look for reviews. If indeed I buy an app and I find it's shithouse, I just delete and request a refund. Overall my experiences have been fairly good, so far the only purchase I've been unhappy with was Colloquy.
 
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