Recently, while looking for media coverage on AppImageLauncher which I might have missed before, I stumbled across DLN Xtend, a podcast spin-off of Destination Linux Network. They covered AppImageLauncher in a few episodes. Here’s my story with DLN Xtend!
Covering AppImage and AppImageLauncher on Episode 11
In Epsiode 11, released Jan 16, 2020, Eric and Nate were talking about AppImages and AppImageLauncher. I loved to see this podcast picking up on one of my main topics in my free software work, so I was eagerly listening to the episode. I found out that Eric Adams even had published a video a couple of days before the episode was released already, showcasing some of AppImageLauncher’s features (even if the UIs look a bit awkward there due to some theming incompatibilities). Nate then posted on his blog about his experience with the tool on openSUSE (which he has developed an obsession for, as he mentions in his podcast regularly).
In the podcast episode, they raised a few questions regarding the AppImage desktop integration, which remained unanswered there. I took the chance and sent them a message via their “feedback portal” on the homepage attempting to answer a few of the questions from AppImage’s point of view. And I also added links to both the video and the podcast in AppImageLauncher’s README.
Follow-up conversation via e-mail
Eric then replied to my e-mail. They said they appreciated me taking the time to reach out to them and providing some responses. They told me they’d plan to use my response’s content in some future content, and asked for my consent. Of course I agreed. He also offered help testing potential fixing the weird looking UI, but unfortunately, I haven’t get to working on this topic yet. Thanks for the offer, though, I might get in touch later.
Retrospectively, I also found out Eric had already commented once on the respective issue on GitHub. It’s always interesting to find out your ways have crossed earlier with people in the free software community. It’s a small but awesome world!
Responding to feedback in Episode 14
In Episode 14 (starting around minute 22), they’ve then used my response in their show and read out a few excerpts. They discussed the insights and answers provided by me shortly. The guys seemed to agree on most points. Eric mentioned he likes the “centralistic management” approach AppImageLauncher implements. It was one of the main reasons for the project to be started to have AppImages on the system be in an easy to manage location, after all. He also positively commented the consistent UX across all desktops.
At the end of the segment, Nate also promised his e-mail setup was working again. I managed to attempt to send him an e-mail right in those three days he mentions, and he also sent me a response once it was fixed.
Eric also posted one answer to a comment in his YouTube video on my behalf, since I didn’t want to sign up there. Thanks!
End of story?
Thanks to Eric and Nate for covering AppImage and AppImageLauncher in their podcast. They covered it from a user perspective, which is great, as we developers have a completely different point of view on our projects.
Please see the DLN Xtend homepage for more episodes around Linux, free software, creating media with free software and many more topics.
It’s great to see AppImageLauncher in the media, as it spreads the word about AppImage. I’d love to hear about your coverage of AppImageLauncher. Please don’t hesitate to reach out and share your link or ask some questions.