While I was looking through the Linux news, I read a Linux.com article that criticized CNR, a website that lets you download a small file that can be installed with one click for both open-source and commercial applications on multiple distros. The article cites a number of bugs and missing features as reasons why CNR is still a “work in progress.” Some of these issues are big (no way to uninstall software with the CNR client) and some are small (old version of some applications.) While it is true that CNR is not perfect, I am convinced that CNR or a similar piece of software is the future of application installation on Linux and possibly on other operating systems too.

On a regular basis I see both complements and complains about how software installation is handled under Linux. On one hand, a lot of people (myself included) like how everything is in one place and can be installed with a few clicks. On the other hand, though, many people find that parts of the installation process such as selecting the package name or knowing which file to download (.rpm, .tar.gz, .deb, you get the point) can be difficult and confusing. This is why I believe that one-click installation systems like CNR are the future of Linux installation. All the applications are still in the same place, but there is only one type of file to download, not many.

Of course, this does not fix the problem for applications that are not part of this one-click install system. Ideally, these applications would be able to make their own small file that could be installed just like the files from the official one-click install website, with a warning about them not be tested, of course.

Despite any bugs that may exist in current implementations, CNR and similar systems are the future.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 10:49 pm and is filed under Future of Linux, Linux Applications, Other OSs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.