Appnews.net - A new collaboration between some of our favorite software bloggers

[mouser]

An interesting new site has been launched by the people behind ghacks and freewaregenius (and Rarst which I did not know about before).

It's called Appnews.net and it seems to be some combination of software update listing site, with extra links to blog writeups of the updated software, and quick download/twitter/email links.

So in other words, when certain programs are updated, they get listed at the top of Appnews, along with links to relative blog entries on ghacks, freewaregenius, rarst, or other sites(?).  I think that's the basic idea.

The display theme leaves a bit to be desired if you ask me (i like a little color in my news), but they are just getting started.  Definitely something to keep an eye on.

http://appnews.net/

[ghacks]

Hej all,

it's a joint project that was first supposed to become a feed only but we decided to create a website based on that. It basically offers a feed that gets updated whenever a software that has been reviewed at one of the sites gets updated. Most of it is automated but some has to be done by hand, for example adding new applications to the list. Rarst did all of the coding and stuff and we (that's Samer of Freewaregenius and me) did help shape the functionality and such.

It is a service to our readers that get the benefit of being informed when a good software has been updated with the option to read up on it at one of our sites. It's currently not clear where we go from here. Possibilities are to include more blogs and an archive among other possibilities. What we need right now is user input. If you got anything to add let us know. Good things, bad things, we like to listen And if you have any questions let us know as well.

thanks again for the opportunity Mouser and everyone at Donation Coder

[Lashiec]

So, it is something like FileHippo with companion reviews?

[ghacks]

Lashiec well it concentrates on software that we have reviewed which is basically all good freeware of this world (j/k). But yes, in essence it is freeware updates with links to additional information.

[Lashiec]

Nice. A site such this is always welcomed considering how the big sites are reviewing software nowadays.

[Rarst]

Hi. Less known part of project here.

Thank you for the writeup. As Martin said above site itself is more like front-end for the RSS feed with updates, which is core of it all. For those interested in technical side I had posted some details.

I made first version of feed for my blog and it worked fine for my readers. Much later I decided to make things more interesting and useful - and with help and input from Martin and Samer it gradually developed into Appnews.

It is very young (like three days since release) project and there are quite a few ideas and people flocking around it already. All feedback is welcome and all suggestions will be actively considered for future development. TIA

[mouser]

Welcome Rarst 

For those like me who didn't know about Rarst's site before this, it's definitely worth a visit as well!
http://www.rarst.net/

[40hz]

Hi Rarst!

Very nice site. Saw the notices on gHacks and Freeware Genius and paid you an early visit. Added you to my feed list this morning. Thanks especially for the link to the technical details of how you set things up. Very informative.

Luck!

[Rarst]

@40hz

Nice you mean Rarst.net or Appnews? Having two sites is kinda confusing. Thanks anyway and glad you find mess of cool tech stuff inside of Appnews interesting.

[urlwolf]

Could this idea be integrated with some kind of multi-installer?
One thing where linux beats other OS is updating software. One command, and all software in your computer is updated. In windows, not only do you need to find the upgrades and download them 'by hand', but also you need to do a few clicks each, and type admin pwd for each (!).

I know there are some attempts for windows to track updates to installed software (can't remember the name now!).
Say that I subscribe to this feed, and there's something installed on my computer that knows how to dl the apps. Then, after review, one admin pwd would install all apps.

Is this setting possible?
Thanks!

[Rarst]

There are huge differences between how Windows and Linux handles software installation.

There are at least four basic way software gets installed in Windows:

• native MS setup package (MSI)
• third party setup package (like Inno or NSIS)
• archive (one of like dozen types)
• weird homebrew installer someone thought would be cool to make

It is seriously hard to make unified installation and update process with this mess. Most Windows updaters go the way of repackaging software which naturally inflates their bandwidth bill and limits choice of titles they can offer. Not even mentioning that lots of developers (even freeware) forbid repackaging and redistributing.

It is interesting (even if hopeless in my opinion) computing task to tackle, but I fear out of Appnews scope.

[y0himba]

I like this site, seriously.  I use the RSS feed in Astra, very useful. 

[Nutty]

I know there are some attempts for windows to track updates to installed software (can't remember the name now!).

-urlwolf (May 02, 2009, 03:40 AM)

Here's a review of some of them on Gizmo's Freeware.

I've used Software Informer, one mentioned briefly as "annoying" in the Other Software Update Monitors category.  (It was bundled with Free Download Manager.)  I do concur with his complaints, but where his top pick boasts "More than 60,000" apps, Software Informer has "661,469" programs in its database.  Of course, it relies far more on the "1,388,362" users to keep things updated with reviews, working download links, etc... but I like the decentralized model.

But I agree, none of these can hold a candle to apt.  And for the reasons Rarst mentions, it's not likely they ever will.