Daniel Would, developer behind the impressive Witter app for the N900, writes an in-depth article about what he thinks could be improved in the Application distribution system used on the N900.

Maemo uses a three-tier application system, to host application according to the phase they are. These tiers are called  Repositories:

1.The top level is the OVI and  Maemo.org (former Extras) repositories. This is the normal tier that comes pre-installed on the system. These application are considered consumer friendly and safe to install.

2.Than there’s the Extras-testing repository, a place for apps that are not quite ready for prime-time, but are past the early testing phase.

3. Lastly there’s the Extras-devel repository, this is where applications that are in their early testing phase sit. It’s important to note that these apps can cause lots of damage to the device and are not recommended for most users.(Here a quick guide from The Nokia Blog, showing how to enable these other repositories.)

When people start activating Extras-testing and Extras-devel repositories andthe updates start rolling in, Daniel thinks that the problem lays here because it “doesn’t really differentiate when showing updates, which repo they are from” and suggests “a simple red/amber/green identifier to show which repository this update is from”

We couldn’t agree more as it could cause a lot of damage, but the system by itself works really well because and the advantages are numerous:

1.It offers automatic updates, no need to hunt for updated apps

2.Applications are categorized by repository, giving adventurous users a taste for the bleeding edge, while protecting the average user from damage and system instability.

3.App are automatically into categories

4.Informs you of application packages that need to be installed or that will be installed

Do you think that the Maemo needs a clearer distinction among repositories?