Junk Store 2.0 has released

[lumisal@lemmy.world]

I've tried Junk Store and like it enough, but I feel it's not good for the target audience.

• The initial instructions don't explain easily how to install it, and neither does the ad. I feel like this is crucial for people who both use a Steam Deck and want an easy to use all launcher.
• The payment scheme. I think most of the Linux community (which is used to free software to start with though) would understand a developer getting some money, but I also think most hate subscriptions. You can keep them, but I think many wouldn't mind a single time payment option that only gets updates up to a x.99 version, with having to pay again for a version 3.0 etc. Especially for this kind of software in particular.
• It's competing against Heroic Game Launcher, which is much better and free.
• The name could be better. Techies will get it, but more casual users might hesitate.
• The AI art used on the website could be better if going that route.

[hominine@lemmy.world]

Subscription? What the fuck?

[localhorst86@feddit.org]

I am definitely not going to pick this up.

I don't see why I should pay $40 for a yearly subscription to an app, that

• doesn't do anything other tools like heroic don't already do just as good or better
• doesn't even come with all the features promised.
• doesn't even provide an actual continuous service that justifies a subscription (games are hosted by epic/gog.

When they launched the initial app, they promised a one-stop-solution, but actually only worked with epic.
Then they promised a GOG plugin that would become free after testing, but then decided to not do that and instead make an entirely new app.

I have no confidence they can deliver on their promised features for their app, or suddenly do another rug-pull on the scope of their app. I can see them changing course any day, and putting further store plugins behind yet another paywall.

Compared to solutions that already exist (heroic), they offer access to the same stores, as well as amazon. The $40 junk-store can do less than the free and open-source heroic.

[encom@lemmy.world]

Maybe no one is talking about it because the greedy devs are now charging for a project?

It’s wild, i made sure to uninstall Junkstore1.0 from my deck

[themoonisacheese@sh.itjust.works]

This is linux, updates comme free with your OS.

[newthrowaway20@lemmy.world]

Wait. Why would we pay for this??

[localhorst86@feddit.org]

I assume they meant updates to junk store.

[ook@discuss.tchncs.de]

Yeah, not sure how that is confusing.

[ook@discuss.tchncs.de]

It's fine to ask for money. Here I think it is just not clear why this would warrant a subscription model.

[localhorst86@feddit.org]

The last update a few weeks ago said it was $40 per year.

Edit: its under "Learn more"

[themoonisacheese@sh.itjust.works]

That was clear. Your distribution (or flathub) takes care of distribution (shocker, I know), so there's no costs associated with publishing a new update.

[localhorst86@feddit.org]

I doubt this is going to be distributed via flathub, less likely even be maintained by your distro

[fubarberry@sopuli.xyz]

Asking for money is fine, no one complains about having to buy Steam games. The dev is literally developing this full time, and there's nothing wrong with him charging for it.

That said, he's charging a lot. I feel like $40 is way too much for a subscription, especially considering how good the free alternatives are. I'm guessing this would have been more finacially successful at a lower price point, while also helping more people.

[donutsrmeh@lemmy.world]

Man, they really need to change that name. For the longest time I didn't know what the hell this thing did and didn't bother to look into it. Any reason why it's called that? Now, I'm going to try it after reading your description of what it is

[plasticexistence@lemmy.world]

I guess I’ll be the black sheep here.

I like Junk Store. I’ve had a better experience with the Decky Loader plugin than I have had with Heroic, namely Heroic made it difficult to login to my accounts and refused to stay logged in. I’m not criticizing Heroic, and I’m appreciative of it as an open source project. Perhaps those issues have even been resolved since I last used it. At the time though, I wanted to stop logging into my accounts each time I wanted to see my libraries, so I gave Junk Store a chance.

I still use it, and I just decided to try out this new version. I’ve been using Linux since the late 90s, and it’s been my primary OS on all my systems since 2008. I’m no longer accustomed to paying for a lot of software (games aside), but doing so will help keep the free (and open source) Decky Loader version going for everyone.

I understand not liking subscriptions, and $40 is a bit high, but keep in mind it’s optional. The plugin version remains and will remain free according to the husband and wife team behind Junk Store. They’re very easy people to talk to if you need anything at all, and they have a passion for what they’re doing. I think it’s super shitty to call them greedy because they’re offering a paid option alongside the free one.

[mrfriki@lemmy.world]

Problem is not paying. Is the subscription model what will make it fail.

[localhorst86@feddit.org]

The plugin version remains and will remain free according to the husband and wife team behind Junk Store. They’re very easy people to talk to if you need anything at all, and they have a passion for what they’re doing. I think it’s super shitty to call them greedy because they’re offering a paid option alongside the free one.

I'd like to point out, that the subscription to JS 2.0 is absolutely not there to keep the free version free.
In their own FAQ on discord they are already on record stating that if the paid GOG plugin drops of in sales (not usage!), they are going to scale back or even stop maintaining the paid plugin as well as the decky version of JS.

[localhorst86@feddit.org]

I've just watched the installation video and when they install Doom64 from Epic (around the 3:20 Minute mark), it mentioned legendary, a free and open-source alternative to the epic launcher. A bit of further digging we notice that junk-store uses gogdl and nile as well. I am absolutely baffled by this. This closed-source, proprietary $40/p.a. software is a wrapper (albeit a fancy one) for other, open-source launchers.

Now, i am sure theres a bit more to it than just invoking the binaries of these launchers, but personaly, I consider this shady.

[plasticexistence@lemmy.world]

Thanks for that. I’m not a Discord user, so I hadn’t seen that. It’s not a total reversal of their previous position, but that is a little different. They didn’t say they’re definitely going to stop the open source plugin, but that is certainly not a commitment to it either.

I would say that open source means anyone is free to fork their work and continue on with it if they can’t. They’re trying to make a living like anyone else, and they’re trying to be self employed. The reality of that situation is that most of their decisions need to be through the lens of how they feed and clothe themselves.

[localhorst86@feddit.org]

Personally, that reads to me that there already is en expiration date on the plugin version as well as the GOG extension.

Either way, while they are free to charge what they see fit, I was flabbergasted by the high price and it being a subscription. I'd argue it should never be their bread and butter. I see the target audience to be too niche for this to be a fulltime gig, I dont believe there's going to be enough users for this to be sustainable, which is (I guess) the reason they went for a SAAS subscription model.

Yes, the plugin version is open source, but I don't believe anyone is going to bother to fork it. Simply because there already is a sophisticated, quite advanced community project (Heroic) that does the job well on a steam deck, also works very well on the desktop, and uses the same backends (legendary, gogdl, nile) as JS.

And it really irks me, that they rely on free, open-source components for their proprietary, closed-source software to function. From what i understand, they are not in breach of the GPL license if they just invoke the binaries, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.