For many years the Linux distro concept has been about "inclusion of applications" sometimes at the detriment to co-habitating applications and the stability of the core OS. Much discussion has been made over the years about JEOS, embedded Linux, custom distros, applicance building, etc, but not a lot of discussion about how applications could be delivered such that they were more readily able to co-habitate.
Open source applications (because distros are so "inclusive") are put through significant scrutiny around their design and deployment related to their integration with the core OS that may or may not make sense. The scrutiny is certainly more intense than proprietary software is required to undergo. This talk proposes a new'ish technology, Software Collections, as a method for resolution.
Speakers: Langdon White