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One of the first alternative app marketplaces went live in the European Union today, with developer Riley Testut introducing AltStore PAL, a version of his AltStore that can be accessed in EU countries. AltStore PAL is an open-source app that is designed to distribute apps from independent developers. At launch, it features two apps, including Testut's Delta game emulator and clipboard manager app Clip. Delta is also being simultaneously released in the App Store outside of the European Union, but it looks like EU customers will need to download it from AltStore. Testut says that once AltStore PAL is "running smoothly," third-party app developers will be able to submit their apps for distribution outside of the App Store. The app marketplace is designed to be decentralized with no directory, so developers will need to self-promote their apps and direct users to their websites to install an app through AltStore. Distributing apps through AltStore is free of charge, but it is worth noting that apps that see more than one million first annual installs will need to pay Apple an 0.50 euro Core Technology Fee. App marketplaces have to pay the fee for every install with no free allowance, so AltStore is charged 0.50 euros each time it is installed. To afford the fee, Testut is charging 1.50 euros per year for AltStore PAL access. Testut has been working on AltStore PAL since Apple announced plans to support alternative app marketplaces in iOS 17.4. It is open to all apps, but Testut says that it makes the most sense for "smaller, indie apps that otherwise couldn't exist due to ‌App Store‌ rules." AltStore PAL is equipped with Patreon integration to allow developers to monetize their apps. Developers can offer their apps to just their patrons, and this method of distribution also allows for a sub-1 million cap on those who can subscribe to use an app. iPhone users in the European Union can download AltStore PAL from the AltStore website. Alternative app marketplaces are not available outside of the European Union.Tag: European Union This article, "AltStore PAL Alternative App Marketplace Launches on iPhone in EU" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

Building all the tools you need from scratch or having complex installments for a cloud environment is a thing of the past now. In this fast-paced world, we need solutions that save time and make us more efficient. That’s where a one-stop for discovering, deploying, and managing all the essential tools you need comes into […]View the full article

We’re pleased to announce Docker Desktop 4.27, packed with exciting new features and updates. The new release includes key advancements such as synchronized file shares, collaboration enhancements in Docker Build Cloud, the introduction of the private marketplace for extensions (available for Docker Business customers), and the much-anticipated release of Moby 25. Additionally, we explore the support for Testcontainers with Enhanced Container Isolation, the general availability of docker init with expanded language support, and the beta release of Docker Debug. These updates represent significant strides in improving development workflows, enhancing security, and offering advanced customization for Docker users. Docker Desktop synchronized file shares GA We’re diving into some fantastic updates for Docker Desktop, and we’re especially thrilled to introduce our latest feature, synchronized file shares, which is available now in version 4.27 (Figure 1). Following our acquisition announcement in June 2023, we have integrated the technology behind Mutagen into the core of Docker Desktop. You can now say goodbye to the challenges of using large codebases in containers with virtual filesystems. Synchronized file shares unlock native filesystem performance for bind mounts and provides a remarkable 2-10x boost in file operation speeds. For developers managing extensive codebases, this is a game-changer. Figure 1: Shares have been created and are available for use in containers. To get started, log in to Docker Desktop with your subscription account (Pro, Teams, or Business) to harness the power of Docker Desktop synchronized file shares. You can read more about this feature in the Docker documentation. Collaborate on shared Docker Build Cloud builds in Docker Desktop With the recent GA of Docker Build Cloud, your team can now leverage Docker Desktop to use powerful cloud-based build machines and shared caching to reduce unnecessary rebuilds and get your build done in a fraction of the time, regardless of your local physical hardware. New builds can make instant use of the shared cache. Even if this is your first time building the project, you can immediately speed up build times with shared caches. We know that team members have varying levels of Docker expertise. When a new developer has issues with their build failing, the Builds view makes it effortless for anyone on the team to locate the troublesome build using search and filtering. They can then collaborate on a fix and get unblocked in no time. When all your team is building on the same cloud builder, it can get noisy, so we added filtering by specific build types, helping you focus on the builds that are important to you. Link to builder settings for a build Previously, to access builder settings, you had to jump back to the build list or the settings page, but now you can access them directly from a build (Figure 2). Figure 2: Access builder settings directly from a build. Delete build history for a builder And, until now you could only delete build in batches, which meant if you wanted to clear the build history it required a lot of clicks. This update enables you to clear all builds easily (Figure 3). Figure 3: Painlessly clear the build history for an individual builder. Refresh storage data for your builder at any point in time Refreshing the storage data is an intensive operation, so it only happens periodically. Previously, when you were clearing data, you would have to wait a while to see the update. Now it’s just a one-click process (Figure 4). Figure 4: Quickly refresh storage data for a builder to get an up-to-date view of your usage. New feature: Private marketplace for extensions available for Docker Business subscribers Docker Business customers now have exclusive access to a new feature: the private marketplace for extensions. This enhancement focuses on security, compliance, and customization, and empowering developers, providing: Controlled access: Manage which extensions developers can use through allow-listing. Private distribution: Easily distribute company-specific extensions from a private registry. Customized development: Deploy customized team processes and tools as unpublished/private Docker extensions tailored to a specific organization. The private marketplace for extensions enables a secure, efficient, and tailored development environment, aligning with your enterprise’s specific needs. Get started today by learning how to configure a private marketplace for extensions. Moby 25 release — containerd image store We are happy to announce the release of Moby 25.0 with Docker Desktop 4.27. In case you’re unfamiliar, Moby is the open source project for Docker Engine, which ships in Docker Desktop. We have dedicated significant effort to this release, which marks a major release milestone for the open source Moby project. You can read a comprehensive list of enhancements in the v25.0.0 release notes. With the release of Docker Desktop 4.27, support for the containerd image store has graduated from beta to general availability. This work began in September 2022 when we started extending the Docker Engine integration with containerd, so we are excited to have this functionality reach general availability. This support provides a more robust user experience by natively storing and building multi-platform images and using snapshotters for lazy pulling images (e.g., stargz) and peer-to-peer image distribution (e.g., dragonfly, nydus). It also provides a foundation for you to run Wasm containers (currently in beta). Using the containerd image store is not currently enabled by default for all users but can be enabled in the general settings in Docker Desktop under Use containers for pulling and storing images (Figure 5). Figure 5: Enable use of the containerd image store in the general settings in Docker Desktop. Going forward, we will continue improving the user experience of pushing, pulling, and storing images with the containerd image store, help migrate user images to use containerd, and work toward enabling it by default for all users. As always, you can try any of the features landing in Moby 25 in Docker Desktop. Support for Testcontainers with Enhanced Container Isolation Docker Desktop 4.27 introduces the ability to use the popular Testcontainers framework with Enhanced Container Isolation (ECI). ECI, which is available to Docker Business customers, provides an additional layer of security to prevent malicious workloads running in containers from compromising the Docker Desktop or the host by running containers without root access to the Docker Desktop VM, by vetting sensitive system calls inside containers and other advanced techniques. It’s meant to better secure local development environments. Before Docker Desktop 4.27, ECI blocked mounting the Docker Engine socket into containers to increase security and prevent malicious containers from gaining access to Docker Engine. However, this also prevented legitimate scenarios (such as Testcontainers) from working with ECI. Starting with Docker Desktop 4.27, admins can now configure ECI to allow Docker socket mounts, but in a controlled way (e.g., on trusted images of their choice) and even restrict the commands that may be sent on that socket. This functionality, in turn, enables users to enjoy the combined benefits of frameworks such as Testcontainers (or any others that require containers to access the Docker engine socket) with the extra security and peace of mind provided by ECI. Docker init GA with Java support Initially released in its beta form in Docker 4.18, docker init has undergone several enhancements. The docker init command-line utility aids in the initialization of Docker resources within a project. It automatically generates Dockerfiles, Compose files, and .dockerignore files based on the nature of the project, significantly reducing the setup time and complexity associated with Docker configurations. The initial beta release of docker init only supported Go and generic projects. The latest version, available in Docker 4.27, supports Go, Python, Node.js, Rust, ASP.NET, PHP, and Java (Figure 6). Figure 6. Docker init will suggest the best template for the application. The general availability of docker init offers an efficient and user-friendly way to integrate Docker into your projects. Whether you’re a seasoned Docker user or new to containerization, docker init is ready to enhance your development workflow. Beta release of Docker Debug As previously announced at DockerCon 2023, Docker Debug is now available as a beta offering in Docker Desktop 4.27. Figure 7: Docker Debug. Developers can spend as much as 60% of their time debugging their applications, with much of that time taken up by sorting and configuring tools and setup instead of debugging. Docker Debug (available in Pro, Teams, or Business subscriptions) provides a language-independent, integrated toolbox for debugging local and remote containerized apps — even when the container fails to launch — enabling developers to find and solve problems faster. To get started, run docker debug <Container or Image name> in the Docker Desktop CLI while logged in with your subscription account. Conclusion Docker Desktop’s latest updates and features, from synchronized file shares to the first beta release of Docker Debug, reflect our ongoing commitment to enhancing developer productivity and operational efficiency. Integrating these capabilities into Docker Desktop streamlines development processes and empowers teams to collaborate more effectively and securely. As Docker continues to evolve, we remain dedicated to providing our community and customers with innovative solutions that address the dynamic needs of modern software development. Stay tuned for further updates and enhancements, and as always, we encourage you to explore these new features to see how they can benefit your development workflow. Upgrade to Docker Desktop 4.27 to explore these updates and experiment with Docker’s latest features. Learn more Read the Docker Desktop Release Notes. Install and authenticate against the latest release of Docker Desktop. Learn more about synchronized file shares. Check out Docker Build Cloud. Read Streamline Dockerization with Docker Init GA Read Docker Init: Initialize Dockerfiles and Compose files with a single CLI command. Have questions? The Docker community is here to help. New to Docker? Get started. View the full article

Today, AWS Marketplace announces the general availability of the agreements and renewals Amazon QuickSight dashboard for sellers. AWS Marketplace sellers can now access the dashboard under the Insights > Sales operations tab of the AWS Marketplace Management Portal (AMMP). View the full article

Today, AWS Marketplace announced that Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) can now add a reseller contract and leverage standard Reseller Contract for AWS Marketplace (RCMP) template when authorizing channel partners to resell ISV products to AWS Marketplace buyers. This launch will help reduce redundancy in legal contract reviews when the two parties (ISVs and channel partners/consulting partners) onboard with each other. ISVs and channel partners can now further optimize their resell operations with this self-service feature of reseller contracts that defines a Consulting Partner Private Offer (CPPO) transaction. View the full article

Founded in 2012, SingleStoreDB is a distributed SQL, cloud-native database that offers ultra-fast, low-latency access to large datasets — simplifying the development of modern enterprise applications. And by combining transactional (OLTP) and analytical (OLAP) workloads, SingleStoreDB introduces new efficiencies into data architecture… https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/partners/how-google-cloud-marketplace-drives-customer-experience

AWS Marketplace introduces free trials for SaaS contracts so you can try products before you buy them. Previously, customers would either need to commit to a contract before trying the product, or go to third-party websites for free trials offered by software vendors directly. View the full article

The Eclipse Foundation this week opened an Adoptium Marketplace through which DevOps teams can access Java binaries based on the OpenJDK specification. OpenJDK was created based on the Java standard edition (SE) of the programming language and virtual machine. Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation, said the goal is to make it easier […] The post Eclipse Foundation Opens Marketplace for OpenJDK Binaries appeared first on DevOps.com. View the full article

Today, AWS Marketplace announced general availability of Offer Acceptance Email Notifications which will notify users by email when a customer completes an offer subscription. With this launch, customers can now have real-time visibility into Offer Acceptance and Subscription by buyers, allowing them to track the overall progress of an AWS Marketplace transaction. Buyers, ISVs and Channel Partners can now receive relevant details like Agreement ID, Offer ID, and Customer details at the time of subscription, to initiate procurement workflows, internal order creation, revenue recognition and software provisioning/deployment. This feature is available for all AWS Marketplace product types. View the full article

AWS Marketplace, a curated digital catalog with 8000+ software listings and data products, has announced general availability of AWS Marketplace Discovery API. This launch enables independent software vendors (ISVs) and data providers to curate and surface a set of third-party software and data products on their web properties through integration with the AWS Marketplace catalog. View the full article

Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), consulting partners, and data providers from Japan are now eligible to sell software and data products in AWS Marketplace and AWS Data Exchange. These offerings add to the global catalog of 8,000+ software and data products from 1,600+ ISVs, consulting partners, and data providers in AWS Marketplace and AWS Data Exchange. Customers around the world can now discover and subscribe to an even greater breadth of software and data products to innovate faster and achieve their business goals. View the full article

Today, AWS Marketplace announced that buyers can now programmatically manage their Private Marketplace through a set of publicly available APIs. With Private Marketplace, customers can curate a catalog of approved third-party software available in AWS Marketplace. This enables their organization to easily purchase software from AWS Marketplace knowing that it complies with their internal policies. This release also makes it easy for Consulting Partners that manage a customer’s AWS accounts to modify the list of approved products in a Private Marketplace on behalf of their customers. View the full article

Today, AWS announced that managed entitlements for AWS Marketplace is now available in AWS License Manager. Managed entitlements enable buyers to govern, track, and distribute entitlements from a software license. Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) can use AWS License Manager to create, configure, and track licenses for their products used on AWS and on-premises. View the full article

AWS Marketplace now enables customers to find and buy Professional Services from Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and consulting partners. Customers can choose from a selection of services such as assessment, implementation, and support for third-party software purchased in AWS Marketplace. The capability to buy software and associated services from multiple sellers in a single cloud marketplace enables customers to reduce onboarding time for each seller and simplify procurement cycles. Customers can buy services with customized pricing, payment schedules and contract terms to fit their business needs, with all software and services charges consolidated on their AWS bill. The AWS Marketplace catalog listings can be refined to show Professional Services using “Professional Services” delivery methods filter. View the full article

Today, AWS Marketplace announced a new self-service experience in the AWS Marketplace Management Portal (AMMP) that enables AWS Marketplace Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to add new Amazon Machine Image (AMI) versions, restrict versions, and update product information on their AMI software listings quickly and easily. AWS Marketplace is consistently improving the way that sellers can keep their AMI products up-to-date. With this release, AWS Marketplace has automated the steps to publish changes to the thousands of AMI product listings in AWS Marketplace, enabling ISVs to rapidly update and adjust their listings on their own. View the full article

Starting today, Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) customers can discover a curated collection of third-party software built for Amazon S3 from within the S3 Management Console. Customers can choose from free or paid software products across SaaS, AMI, CFT, and Container product types, spanning across a wide range of popular categories including Storage, Back-up and Recovery, Data Integration and Analytics, Observability and Monitoring, Security and Threat Detection, and Permissions. View the full article

Today, AWS Marketplace announced the ability for independent software vendors (ISVs) to provide tags corresponding to the metered usage of their software. Customers can enable the vendor provided tags as cost allocation tags to gain visibility into third-party software spend. View the full article

Today, AWS Marketplace announced that Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) can now use the self-service AWS Marketplace Management Portal to authorize their preferred consulting partners to resell their software to AWS Marketplace buyers. This launch enables ISVs and consulting partners to work together more efficiently to create a Consulting Partner Private Offer (CPPO), which allows customers to purchase software solutions in AWS Marketplace directly from consulting partners. ISVs and consulting partners can simplify their operations and accelerate deliver to their customers. View the full article