CoApp: Bringing Open Source Package Management to Windows

The biggest challenge to using/building/maintaining many Open Source applications on Windows, is that Windows does things differently that Linux and Unix . Different file systems, command lines, APIs, user experiences … pretty much everything. Regardless of personal opinions about it being the ‘right-way’ or ‘wrong-way’, it suffices to say that it is just simply different.

Linux’ Package Management Systems are a superior tool for managing the installation, updating and removal of software. Ian Murdock (founder of the Debian Linux distribution) has commented that package management is “the single biggest advancement Linux has brought to the industry”, that it blurs the boundaries between operating system and applications, and that it makes it “easier to push new innovations [...] into the marketplace and [...] evolve the OS”.

The Common Opensource Application Publishing Platform project is designed to address these unique needs of Open Source developers by bringing an Open Source Package Management System to Windows, and bootstrapping the ecosystem with important Open Source Applications and Libraries.

Sponsored by Microsoft