They wanna be to Linux what the Play Store is to Android, what the App Store is to iOS.But we don't do that around here. We use Flatpak round 'ere.

has been downloaded nearly four million times worldwide across both app stores

Besides running contrary to the principles that lead a lot of people to Linux systems (a closed store that you can't alter...automatic updates you have no control over....run by just the one company)

I run a fairly ancient RedHat Enterprise 6 on my 32-bit test machine and if I need something requiring Gtk3 (such as a latest Firefox or Chrome), I just make a chroot and use debootstrap (from EPEL) to get me a Debian 9 userland for that program. Easy. No bizarre "app stores", no conflicting packages. Do people use Snap app-stores because they don't know how to use the chroot command? Or are they just lazy? If it is because they want the added security of a container, substitute chroot with lxc... Shouldn't be necessary though; if you avoid non-ethical software (i.e App-stores), you are very unlikely to need the added security.

If Apple makes it possible for content creators to set up shop on the iBooks Store, and feel at home there, many will.

published similarly through iTunes Connect into the App Store rather than the iBooks Store

export books as apps