Recently, I wanted to learn how to make Facebook applications using Ruby on Rails. For my first project, I decided to build a small application to let people find, share, install and promote Ubuntu software right from within Facebook. Determining which software we use can be a very social experience, often we’ll ask our friends what they recommend, so why not take this social aspect to the (currently) most popular social networking site?
Here is a quick video that I put together to show off some of the features of the Facebook app.
Give Apps for Ubuntu a try by visiting http://apps.facebook.com/ubuntuapps.
Youtube Link: Find, Share, and Install Ubuntu Apps on Facebook
This is very cool, keep up the good work!
Why not make an app that promotes “Linux” and “OpenSource” software, not just Ubuntu. Not everybody uses Ubuntu, nor is it the best choice for everyone. This is whats wrong with the community today, there is the “Linux” Community, and then the Ubuntu community. Ubuntu might as well be microsoft as far as I’m concerned.
Joe,
The reason is simple. Each Linux distro has it’s own package distribution system. For example, Fedora and Ubuntu are not compatible in this area. Ubuntu makes it simple to make such a site because they include apt-url, the technology that allows a web app like this to instruct the OS to install new software. This should also work on just about any Debian based system, but it’d be a nightmare to try to keep track of every Linux distro’s repositories and packaging systems in one simple web app.
The simple fact is, Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distribution for beginners, so it seems a good place to start.