14 DAY TRIAL // We wrote a couple of weeks ago about the poor state of the Ubuntu Software Center, but it looks like other publications took this little too far. No, Canonical is not killing the Ubuntu Software Center, it's just evolving.
It's easy to think that Canonical is killing the Ubuntu Software Center after you notice that the package hasn't been touched by developers in a couple of years. The application is now lagging behind and the community has noticed, there's no doubt about it, but there is a big leap from unmaintained to "killing."
The Ubuntu Software Center is not going anywhere soon, and there are a few good reasons for that. First of all, it's the store for the DEB-based Ubuntu distros and Canonical plans to keep this type of distribution around for the foreseeable future. It's also an application that's been around for many years, and a lot of effort has been put into it. You don't just throw away a product like that.
A much cheaper way of dealing with the issues is not to "kill" the Ubuntu Software Center; it's much easier to just put it in maintenance mode and make sure that it provides a limited functionality to whoever wants to use it.
Ubuntu Software Center is evolving
Just like the Ubuntu operating system, the Software Center is also evolving. The development of Unity 8 for the desktop will also bring about a new store that is centered on Snappy apps. Even when that comes about, Canonical will still have two operating systems out into the wild, and the users of the DEB-based Ubuntu will still want some sort of store app.
The entire discussion started after a developer complained about the fact that his apps are not pushed into the repositories for Ubuntu 15.04 and are only available for Ubuntu 14.04. It turned out that Ubuntu no longer allows developers to publish paid apps for later versions of the OS. They need manpower to check all the packages, and that is something they don't have. Canonical doesn't want to maintain it more than it needs to, but it needs to do that until an alternative is found.
What some users don't seem to understand is that Canonical is not focusing on mobile apps or just the mobile operating system. They are working on a single operating system called Ubuntu. At one point in the near future, there will only be a single Ubuntu operating system, a single code base for everything and a new Store. No one will remember the old Software Center because it lived its days, but it's not going away anytime soon.