Recommendations don't seem useful in their current form

Bug #745662 reported by Matthew Paul Thomas
12
This bug affects 2 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
software-center (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Low
Unassigned

Bug Description

Ubuntu Software Centre 3.1.24.3, Ubuntu Natty 20110327

Example A:
1. Log in to a new user account for the first time.
2. Open and close Ubuntu Software Center.
3. Take and save a screenshot.
4. Open Ubuntu Software Center again, and click the "recommendations" link.
What happens: Gwenview, gThumb, and Gimp appear as recommendations.

Example B:
1. Log in to a new user account for the first time.
2. Open and close Ubuntu Software Center.
3. download an MP3.
4. Open Ubuntu Software Center again, and click the "recommendations" link.
What happens: Audacity, Rhythmbox, and VLC appear as recommendations.

Unfortunately, these recommendations are not at all useful. I already have an image viewer installed for viewing the screenshot, and I have not done anything to suggest that I want two others, nor that I want a professional image editor. Similarly, Banshee and Totem are already installed, so suggesting Rhythmbox and VLC to me is unhelpful, especially when I haven't even run Banshee or Totem yet, and I haven't expressed any interest in multi-track editing at all.

I suggest that the recommendation link, and surrounding text, be hidden until we find a way to make the recommendations useful. This will likely involve opt-in recording of what people install, and then making recommendations of the form "People who installed X and Y also installed Z".

description: updated
Robert Roth (evfool)
Changed in software-center (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Vish (vish) wrote :

Another example is when we open Nautilus a couple of times and return to SC, we find PCMAN and Dolphin in the recommendations. I haven't ever tried having 2 file-managers installed at the same time (so not really sure if it causes problems) but it seems unnecessary having those 2 as recommendations.
Maybe we could blacklist a few such core apps from being "Recommended" .

Changed in software-center (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Medium
importance: Medium → Low
Revision history for this message
Kiwinote (kiwinote) wrote :

Hi! Thanks for your bug report. As you may be aware, the upcoming release of Ubuntu 11.10 will feature a redesigned software-center. The bug you describe is no longer present in recent development versions of software-center as we no longer display recommendations, so I'll close this bug report. Please continue to report any bugs you may find. Thanks again for your help!

Changed in software-center (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Fix Released
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