The BaseShield App Store for Windows launches (YC Winter 08) • Hacker News Board

Re: The BaseShield App Store for Windows launches (YC Winter 08)

#21

Post by dmpayton » Tue, Nov 25, 2008, 9:41 PM UTC

Idea time.

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?

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.

Note: I have not yet used BaseShield, so if something like this is already in place, ignore me.

Re: The BaseShield App Store for Windows launches (YC Winter 08)

#22

Post by bd » Tue, Nov 25, 2008, 10:12 PM UTC

swies wrote: post #12

Hi everyone! 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. Thanks!

If I may suggest, please change your demo video soundtrack. Looping music was very distracting, as if something went wrong. Thanks to this it was painful to watch otherwise awesome demo.

Re: The BaseShield App Store for Windows launches (YC Winter 08)

#23

Post by pavelludiq » Tue, Nov 25, 2008, 10:31 PM UTC

I really liked how the icons on the right side of the home page look surprisingly gnome-like :D

Re: The BaseShield App Store for Windows launches (YC Winter 08)

#24

Post by pg » Tue, Nov 25, 2008, 10:36 PM UTC

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.

Re: The BaseShield App Store for Windows launches (YC Winter 08)

#25

Post by skuzins » Tue, Nov 25, 2008, 10:38 PM UTC

thorax wrote: post #19

swies wrote: post #12

Hi everyone! 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. Thanks!

I'd like to know more about the virtualization piece-- what kind of apps can run? Some of our apps could be a bit lower-level (services, kernel-mode drivers, etc). Does BaseShield allow those? I know most system virtualization platforms cannot handle those without a full virtualized OS.

The virtualization layer only supports user mode applications; kernel mode drivers unfortunately won't work. Services are not yet supported but support may be added in the future.

Re: The BaseShield App Store for Windows launches (YC Winter 08)

#26

Post by joshwa » Tue, Nov 25, 2008, 11:44 PM UTC

epall wrote: post #17

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.

http://osx.iusethis.com/ http://www.versiontracker.com/

Re: The BaseShield App Store for Windows launches (YC Winter 08)

#27

Post by snprbob86 » Wed, Nov 26, 2008, 12:15 AM UTC

bprater wrote: post #15

Hopefully, it won't require developers to use a specific language or framework. An interesting alternative idea might be to create a cross-platform "app store" written in AIR that delivers cross-platform AIR apps.

That's the beauty of virtualization: You just find a layer to slice at below everything else, cut there, and everything above it should work. Hopefully, reguardless of language or framework if you make your cut at the right place.

Re: The BaseShield App Store for Windows launches (YC Winter 08)

#28

Post by snprbob86 » Wed, Nov 26, 2008, 12:20 AM UTC

Really cool product/tech!

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.

Re: The BaseShield App Store for Windows launches (YC Winter 08)

#29

Post by Kaizyn » Wed, Nov 26, 2008, 12:59 AM UTC

bprater wrote: post #11

biohacker42 wrote: post #3

Virtualization layer! 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. Virtualizatin is a hefty technology chunk to bite of for a small team, very impressive. Best of luck to the BaseShield dudes and dudettes.

Agreed. It always annoys me that I have to reinstall my OS every six months because of the crap I end up downloading.

Not downloading and installing crap would significantly improve your experience of using the computer.

Re: The BaseShield App Store for Windows launches (YC Winter 08)

#30

Post by Kaizyn » Wed, Nov 26, 2008, 1:10 AM UTC

pg wrote: post #24

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 ins…

The app store seems like a good idea. However, I don't understand the purpose of a virtualization layer on top of Windows.