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Re: Apps available for download suggestions should be kept for searches.

 

On Sat 25 Feb 2012 20:30:24 GMT, Jo-Erlend Schinstad wrote:
On 25. feb. 2012 20:54, Carl Ansell wrote:

How about just exact matches then? It needs to be clear to the user that the software centre is the place to search for applications. But then, if I search the dash for something I believe I have installed, but it turns out I haven't, then it is useful for the dash to return a link to available software so it can be installed. I do this often, because I have different applications installed on different PCs and end up forgetting what is installed on each PC.

I very much agree with this for usability reasons. The only problem I see with this, is if the search is sent to an external service, but I don't think that's the case with the available-apps scope. I have personally disabled the available-apps scope entirely and I think it would be better as an opt-in instead of opt-out.

To prevent the pornview scenario happening, we definitely need something. I believe in the other discussion, it was suggested that filters are added to the privacy controls to turn off certain content. If this is introduced effectively, then the scenario above could become a non-issue.

First of all, are you talking about names or content now? Because as I said before, the PornView application has absolutely nothing to do with pornography at all. It's a humorous name. Nothing more. And you don't have to agree with the humor, but to sensor it would be outrageous, in my opinion. For instance, Tim Cook could perfectly well be the stage name of a Norwegian porn-star. ("kukk" in Norwegian is slang for penis, and pronounced just the same). When Norwegian children starts to learn English, they have plenty of fun with similarly sounding words – because there's a whole lot of them. What about Chinese words?

Content is something else, though I'd be careful about messing too much with that as well. But things like the Adult Lens, which actively provides pornographic content, is probably something we can agree should be in a different class. A lot of people find games of cards and dice to be deeply offensive, since it creates the possibility of gambling, which is the devils work... So, should Yatzee be placed in the Adult category as well, just to be on the safe side?

It would be a fairly thin catalog if it should only display things that no-one in the entire world could ever find objectionable. I'm not saying it isn't possible to find solutions to these issues, but I think it's an extreme challenge.


I agree its a challenge. No doubt someone at Canonical is coming up with some clever solution to these problems. Using the opt-in approach you suggested could be beneficial, as the functionality remains available but only if you want it. I would definitely support this idea.

It will be interesting to see what, if anything, is eventually changed.


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