Thanks for all the input. I think this topic is really hopefully closed and addressed when a new version of software center is released.
Nevertheless I wanted to point out, that for me personally it is no issue at all with the browser, but I wanted to point out flaws in the user experience aka UX. It is common knowledge that there is more than 1 web browser out there, but I also get the strong feeling that a few of you cannot imagine how demanding people who rely on your tech support can be. E.g.: Tried already once to switch my mum to Firefox and explained it to hear patiently and made it as directly accessible as possible. A few weeks pass and I get a call from her telling me, that Google is deleted from her machine and she cannot access the Internet therefore. 😃
I am a big fan of Linux and FOSS in general and like to convert a few people, as I have the feeling it is superior by now. Of course I can even write my own scripts and run them as CRON job from time to time. Nevertheless, if I don't have the feeling that being user friendly, especially to newcomers isn't part of the core philosophy of a project, I won't recommend it any more. Personally I love living on the bleeding edge, but not for the people who rely on my tech support from time to time. It needs to just work then, as I have other duties and limited time.

Sorry for the long post, think all I want to say is: Solus is a project with huge potential, but at least in its current state its focus doesn't seem to be to remove rough edges. This is fine for me, especially if the alternative is slowing down the project's pace, but thought a little UX feedback would be welcome. 😉

It's not that nobody wants to remove the rough edges, it's just really hard in some cases and/or requires a lot of time to do so.
In any case, since you're interested in a smoother 3rd party update experience, there is this little tool:
https://github.com/pycampers/eopkg3p
I've seen a few people talk about it, but I haven't used it myself. Should make the whole experience a bit better, but of course it's not as good as direct integration into the Software Center. (Also I think there is an issue with the updating of Android Tools at the moment. That's a package that used to be exclusive to the third party repository, but has since landed, in improved form, in the main repository, albeit with a lower release number, which prompts eopkg3p to replace it with the "newer" version from the 3rd party repo)

Prepare for an unpopular opinion. After Ikey's departure Solus is in the maintenance mode. Roadmap is just a list of good wishes I'm afraid.

    c432
    Thanks for pointing that out, I am glad this project continues and I appreciate the job everyone is doing here, but that sums up my impression as well.

    Also last blog post is from April https://getsol.us/blog/

    EbonJaeger Good to see the development is not staling and the new forum is also nice, but it is a difference notable since Ikey is gone as he also did the project for a while pretty much full time. So understandable. 😉

          Never let facts get in the way of forming a contradictory option.

          https://github.com/solus-project/budgie-desktop/commits/master
          https://github.com/getsolus/ferryd/commits/master
          https://github.com/DataDrake/cuppa/commits/master

          An thats just 3 things related to Solus's development.

          But theres no blog post / iso refresh or the long awaited software center rewrite so.... whinge whinge whinge

          People who think ikey was the be all an end all of this project are fools who never really paid attention to its development in the first place.

            majamee but it is a difference notable since Ikey is gone as he also did the project for a while pretty much full time.

            Is it though? I certainly don't feel like that. Solus made more strides in the months after Ikey's departure than in much of the year before it, far as I can tell.

              Harvey So, when talking about facts, please feel free to point out where in my comments I started to quote you: "whinge whinge whinge"? Feels offensive the way you write and that is not the way to treat constructive criticism is it?

                  majamee
                  Oh please...

                  Constructive criticism? Where? You complained about the last blog post date. An ignore actual development work being done. I have no idea where the logic behind blog post date being an indicator of project health comes from. It makes zero sense.

                  You want to talk about insulting? It's insulting to the developers and maintainers of this project that you dismiss their work as "maintenance mode" which is a statement you said you agreed with despite it being demonstrably not true.

                  An while the "whinge whinge whinge" wasn't directly at you, notice i didn't reply to an individual it was a general statement about people who complain about progress being made and no new blog posts in x months... If the shoe fits...

                      c432 We aren't in maintenance mode. If you pay any attention to the weekly syncs that would be abundantly clear. The Roadmap is a list of goals and the months were guidelines on how long we things different things will take. They aren't deadlines. Nor are we remotely upset about "missing" them. All of us contribute part-time, and unfortunately I'm simultaneously working on a PhD which has taken up way more of my time this year than it did last year.

                      But saying we are in maintenance mode is an insult to the maintainers who have been dutifully updating existing packages, adding many new ones since the start of the year, and working through many long-standing bugs for both hardware and software. It's also an insult to all of the development work that Josh and I have done this year, on top of both having full-time jobs in addition to Solus. I'm sorry that we aren't living up to your expectations of a constant stream of social media posts hyping everything that we do, but that's hardly reflective of just how much work has been done around here. Ikey's departure wasn't the death of the project, it was just the start of a new era in its history.

                          Harvey PS: When talking about facts, please check them yourself before pasting any random links for github. Did you really compare the numbers? E.g.: https://github.com/solus-project/budgie-desktop/graphs/contributors

                          ikeydoherty
                          2,209 commits 274,315 ++
                          vs.
                          JoshStrobl
                          167 commits 7,624 ++

                          So you are proving my point. I am happy to have a professional discussion anytime, but your reaction seems more guided by feelings than facts as it seems. Also to put it as simple as that, if one developer leaves a project it loses 1 dev in manpower, so the difference should be notable always.

                          DataDrake Thank you for your great work and good luck with your PhD thesis. I hope I haven't been disrespectful, because I am actually a fan of your work.

                                majamee ikeydoherty
                                2,209 commits 274,315 ++
                                vs.
                                JoshStrobl
                                167 commits 7,624 ++

                                And Ikey worked on Budgie a lot longer than Josh, so that metric is misleading. 🙂

                                  majamee

                                  So you are proving my point. I am happy to have a professional discussion anytime, but your reaction seems more guided by feelings than facts as it seems. Also to put it as simple as that, if one developer leaves a project it loses 1 dev in manpower, so the difference should be notable always.

                                  No its guided by facts. As just pointed out above. Also of course it takes more lines to create a project from scratch than to add features and improvements. Clearly you have no idea what you're talking about.

                                      Ooookay, easy guys. Let's pretend we're better than insulting each other's intelligence.

                                      Harvey
                                      I didn't ignore the actual development work and I also don't need updates in the communication too often, I just pointed out that the last official update in the blog is almost half a year ago.
                                      When talking about no idea: I studied applied informatics and working in the field since over a decade, meaning that I know that even when I said the last blog post is a while ago, that even actively maintaining a project is a lot of effort and I have the deepest respect for that.
                                      Also I do work when time allows myself on a few small open source projects on github, if you like you are welcome to check them out.
                                      So please let me know your experience and why it seems I hit a nerve?

                                      P.S.: Just to be clear - I never said the project would be dead or anything like that. I also never wanted to reduce the time and efforts the developers put into this project. I just wanted to ask for an update about the roadmap as the communication about it wasn't clear plus provide an idea about how the 3rd party app integration UX could be improved.

                                          In my opinion, it is time for the "No' and/or 'Discussion Locked'.** People who are unhappy with this distro and/or its development and/or its hard working dev team can choose to use something else.

                                            elfprince Fair enough, that did take a turn in a completely unforeseen direction. No hard feelings and please excuse if anything I said did hurt any feelings. Also not a native speaker.

                                            So, short answer to my question:
                                            No updated timeline for the roadmap aka done when its done and until then no improvement ideas for current 3rd party app implementation.

                                              elfprince Thats the kind of response I've been noticing lately... Our way or the high way. Why can't we, instead of getting on our high horses and acting like the other person is an idiot that needs to go away, why not actually inform them in a nicer manner? Seems to me this has started to become very cultish.

                                                  The way I see it, true it's not a perfect world. But I believe that, considering that, we are very fortunate to have Solus as is.