I have to salute the Baseshields for their imagination. Originally the virtualization sw was going to be the product. Might still be. But then they realized that, having built it, they could basically take over the delivery of software on Windows. I was blown away when Patrick came by YC to give me a demo. I thought I was going to be seeing a demo of virtualization sw, which, frankly, is not that interesting, and instead they'd built the Windows App Store.
Hi everyone!<p>We'd like to especially encourage any news.yc readers who write windows apps to distribute them via BaseShield. Just get in touch with me at my personal email: pat (at) baseshield.com -- if you want to list it for free we'll get it up right away, if you'd like to charge you'll be at the top of the list once we get payments going.<p>Thanks!
Virtualization layer!<p>That's something I would not have thought of first.
Despite the fact that windows security was on my mind when I started reading that article.<p>Virtualizatin is a hefty technology chunk to bite of for a small team, very impressive.<p>Best of luck to the BaseShield dudes and dudettes.
I read the description, and though - that sounds pretty cool. But trying it sucks:<p>1. I don't know what these 'apps' are. Only baseshield apps or any applications at all?<p>2. I'm using Mac OS X. It offered me a .exe. Tell us that on your homepage<p>3. Surely you can spend a bit of money to get some proper icons and not use icons that hundreds of people are already using<p>4. Give me some sort of idea what apps are in there without requiring me to install a .exe. Is it worth it at all - I can't know without some idea of the apps.<p>In general, it's a pretty good idea, and something like this is neccessary for windows.
Idea time.<p>Every time I reformat my windows machine I have to manually download and install all the programs I use. So what about the ability to create common configurations? Or tag apps?<p>You could simply click "Install all apps tagged with 'X'", go make dinner, and and come back to a machine that's ready to go. For those who reformat often or are always setting up new vbox/vmware instances (like me), this would be very handy. Of course, it also depends on which apps are available.<p>Note: I have not yet used BaseShield, so if something like this is already in place, ignore me.
Neat, seems to work reasonably well.<p>Inkscape's a bit slow, and the breakout game has some horrible sound lag, but the get/install/run UX is really great.<p>Anyone know how the virtualize is done?
I don't really see how you can claim it makes apps safe if you provide access to 3D hardware. Anyone who has done any 3D hardware programming will know that it's easy to crash/exploit through 3D APIs.<p>Having said that... nice one!<p>I see some code I wrote on there is being offered up! So can you please send me the source ;) You should provide any source for binaries you are distributing that require such things... including diffs to changes you've made (for software with those licenses).<p>There's lots of these types of app stores(portals) around... but I like how you've at least attempted to make it safe. I still think a process of review and trust will help just as much, so I hope you have those ideas mixed in.<p>Also, are you doing anything to try and stop piracy for paid apps?
A few comments from using it:<p>* The installer is utterly terrible and gave me no options whatsoever like installation location or where to put icons, which is just outright obnoxious in the Windows world.<p>* The application installs it itself in C:\Windows\system32\BaseShield\BaseShield\Data\AppStore. This is extremely bad karma - I have /never/ used a legitimate application that did this. Hiding your application amongst the operating system is just something you outright don't do.<p>* The uninstall is flawed. It did not remove the applications and left data in c:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\BaseShield, c:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\BaseShield\ and c:\Windows\System32\Baseshield\Baseshield. It also did not uninstall the application I installed to test (Abiword), leaving 24 megabytes of data on my hard-disk drive, and I had to uninstall it by hand, along with removing its icon from both my desktop and start menu.<p>* Using an application's icon in the application stub that launches the main application is dubiously legal at best.<p>* The user interface is bad, and makes Steam look good, which is a scary state of affairs. Please use Windows-native widgets where possible.<p>Personally, I would not use, nor recommend anyone use, the application as currently designed.
This could be awesome if it takes off. I've always thought the biggest barrier to desktop app adoption vs webapp adoption is the problem of finding and deploying apps. If this takes off we could witness a rejuvenation in the market for desktop apps on Windows.<p>As a developer who is often frustrated by how much application development these days is limited to the capabilities of the browser, something that solves the problem of safely deploying and managing application installs, really appeals.<p>Good luck Baseshield guys!
Man I wish I had this for OS X apps. I know there are tons of awesome apps out there for the Mac, and I use many, but if there were some central place to find them I'm sure I'd buy more.
I really do like this and if it's good and there's good software available through it I would definitely recommend it to friends and family.<p>But, by making it safe, easy and quick to install desktop applications again one could argue that BaseShield is really the enemy of every web application in existence. It's going to have to die.
Really cool product/tech!<p>Have you looked at Softricity and their product SoftGrid? SoftGrid was a similar app virtualization platform. It was quite mature and complete. They were acquired by Microsoft a few years ago. I think some of their tech is being used in Windows 7 with the pending Application Binary Interface break.
Doesn't support 64-bit windows?<p>I'd LOVE to use this product. I'll be watching avidly for a release that supports 64-bit vista.<p>Not to be overly critical, I realize 64-bit isn't a priority for a startup, but why wouldn't it be supported? Is there really that much of a difference for an application?
Well I guess there is still a long road ahead. They are a service+infrastructure provider. I would approach some ISVs to actually deploy via BaseShield and to also approach some IHVs to bundle BaseShield with new PCs perhaps.
Hopefully, it won't require developers to use a specific language or framework.<p>An interesting alternative idea might be to create a cross-platform "app store" written in AIR that delivers cross-platform AIR apps.