Windows needs a Linux package manager

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Windows users have a real problem when it comes to updates. Sure they have Microsoft Update and certainly many applications include their own update mechanisms. Yet despite that, there seems to be a problem with Windows users actually updating.

So allow me to make a suggestion. Microsoft (or a really smart ISV) should build a full application manager for Windows, similar to what most Linux distributions do today.

For the non-Linux users out there – what Linux distros typically do is have a package management utility of some sort that pulls updates from a package repository (or repositories). Those updates could be for the core operating system but also could include updates for any application package in a repository. So if for example Mozilla Firefox is updated, you don’t necessary have to go to Mozilla to update. Instead if its in your Linux distro’s repository when an update is issued you’ll get an update as part of your existing unified update process.

Small caveat though – there can sometimes be a delay between the time an application has an update upstream and the time an update actually appears in a particular Linux repository.

Overall though, the general idea of one unified approach through a master application package updating tool is one that in my view keeps Linux users (relatively speaking) up to date (and no pun intended on the old Red Hat Up2date command). Wouldn’t that type of system be a good one for Windows too? Wouldn’t you rather have one update process instead of many?