[joncameron]

How about a non-Apple App Store: something like homebrew with a friendly GUI that's easy to navigate? I started using Homebrew Cask recently, and it seems like a perfect workflow for the average user who just wants to download VLC or whatever.

I'm imagining Grandma pulling up the "Application Warehouse", let's say, and clicking a download button under a VLC icon. It gets downloaded from a trusted source over HTTPS, gets checked against a hash, symlinked and Gran's ready to go, all without the hassle of shady installers from the search engine shitpile.

[astrodust]

Microsoft really should consider making something like Ninite (https://ninite.com) a native component of Windows 10.

It skips all the garbage and installs the application.

[Someone1234]

They are/have. In Windows 10 it is called "OneGet." It is a Linux-like package manager to complement their Windows Store (app store) which isn't going away.

[beamatronic]

This would require Microsoft to take a stand on behalf of the consumer

[ShinyCyril]

Brew integration would be nice. There used to be a couple of non-Apple app stores, but most of them were killed off when the actual App Store came along.

MacUpdate is still running one though: http://www.macupdate.com/desktop/

[evilduck]

https://www.cakebrew.com is an open source GUI that makes homebrew easy to navigate. Though homebrew has no flashy screenshots or customer-oriented product description so I don't think it's a contender as a Mac App Store replacement for your average user.

[wcbeard10]

Thanks for the tip. I just downloaded it with brew cask and feel like I've found the mobius strip of package management.

[gress]

How is this better than the Apple App Store? As soon as you have multiple ones, nobody knows which one to trust.

[riffraff]

I don't think it's the same, you'd only have to trust one extra source for the new appstore (2? 3?), not one for each installed software.

E.g. I trust the macports maintainers, even if I don't verify the sources for each thing I get through `port install`.

[gress]

Sure but using macports implies a level of technical understanding to evaluate trustworthiness. Most end users don't have that, and so they could just as easily be convinced to trust the CNET App Store.