According to a recent message posted on the Ubuntu Devel mailing list by Colin Watson, Installer Team leader, Ubuntu might get a new, simplified packaging format and app installer which should make it easier for developers to get their software into Ubuntu. This will target, at least initially, the Ubuntu phone/tablet but it should be usable elsewhere too, even on non-Ubuntu or non-Linux systems.

An update to the Ubuntu 11.04 installer (Ubiquity) finally brings upgrade support to the Ubuntu Live CD. That means that for instance if you use Ubuntu 10.10, when you'll boot the Ubuntu 11.04 Live CD you'll have an option to upgrade (without losing your documents and installed applications). Besides this change, there's also a redesigned partitioner:

(here's another screenshot, but in this one the "install alongside" option is missing for some odd reason)

Ubuntu 10.04 live CD no longer asks you to choose if you want to try it out or install it using a GRUB menu (I hope that's what was used). Instead, it boots into a menu where you can select to install Ubuntu or just try it.



This isn't very new (I not exactly sure when this was introduced), but with all the news related to themes lately I've somehow missed this update.

Volery, the website which provides a single installer for all your favourite Windows applications used to be an in private beta and people needed an invite code.

Starting today, Volery (now called Ninite) is available for everyone. You don't even need an account, simply go to it's website, select the applications you want to include in your installer and then simply download it.

The basic version is free for personal use and will remain so, but the Ninite developers are planing to add a premium version. Until then, advanced features like caching downloads to save bandwidth are free too. Details about these advanced features, HERE.

Maybe you plan on upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7, or just for the next time you'll make a clean install, Volery is an application which should make this task a lot easier and less time consuming.

We have seen a few tries at creating one installer that would allow a user to install multiple popular software programs at once. Most of these programs were taken down after a while due to legal issues that some software developers had with the way their software was distributed.

The new service Volery tries a slightly different approach. Instead of offering an installer that comes with all the software already included it offers to create a customizable installer at the Volery website. The customization is as easy as it can get. All the user needs to do is to pick the programs that should be included in the installer. This installer can then be downloaded to the local computer system. The installer itself has always the same size of 159 Kilobytes. It currently contains the names of all programs that get installed.