I remember when began using Linux. I was sad that installing software was complicated and there was no standard.

Then apt came and it seemed good. But I soon discovered that I was only good for software that was on the repositories.

Then I considered adding third party repositories and it seemed good. But I soon discovered that it could easily break my distro.

Then I considered compiling the software on my own machine and it seemed good. But then I discovered that newly available software required newly available dependencies.

Then I considered building dependencies on my own machine and it seemed good. But then I discovered that it soon becomes very complicated and could easily break my distro.

Then I considered replacing my distro periodically by newer versions and it seemed good. But then I discovered that it was unstable.

Then I considered using LTS releases only and it seemed good. But then I discovered that it was hard to use newly released software.

Then I considered compiling software and dependencies for my user only and it seemed good. But then I discovered that it was too much work.

Then I heard about klik, then I heard about glick, and containers and guix. And, during a long time, everything around these options evolved. And all that seemed good in different ways than before.

A few years ago I installed debian 10 from debootstrap, an incredibly learning experience. I then installed flatpak and guix on it. I loved it. I can finally have a distro with a stable core, long term maintained, where I can easily use newly released software without ever risking my system in a very simple way.

Linux, even considering only the kernel, evolved a lot for this to be possible. AppImages, flatpaks and snaps are a godsend for software installation on Linux. I really like the way all that matured along all those years. I had the beautiful experience of installing the latest released version of GIMP in different distros, different computers with different architectures all with the very same command a little time after it was made available.

I have just a vague idea how complicated it was to reach this point but I like where we are now. I know a lot of people worked hard to achieve it and I know a lot of good ideas died along the way. I don't know how harmful the ongoing "war" between snap and flatpak is today but I'm glad both worked as expected when I had to use them recently.

There's a lot to improve but I 'm hopeful and watching these improvements occur like someone who watches history being written. For all those who made this happen, for all those who made it possible: thank you all. You solved a lot of problems I had for years and I owe you a lot.