What makes apt and rpm repositories so great is not that they contain loads of software, but that the software packages depend on each other so that each package contains as little as possible. In contrast, most Windows applocations are self-sufficient. If it requires external libraries, those will be bundled with the installer.
To make a functional package repository, you'd have to first build the supporting libraries all those programs use, then build all the programs and create dependencies. As this is counter to the current windows philosophy, you'll likely have to change the build scripts of all the programs involved. Good luck.
If you are going with the binary approach (basically creating a more managed download.com), be sure to fully support NSIS installers. The NSIS installer is by far the best installer out there for open source projects, and also one of the more popular ones.
What makes apt and rpm repositories so great is not that they contain loads of software, but that the software packages depend on each other so that each package contains as little as possible. In contrast, most Windows applocations are self-sufficient. If it requires external libraries, those will be bundled with the installer.
To make a functional package repository, you'd have to first build the supporting libraries all those programs use, then build all the programs and create dependencies. As this is counter to the current windows philosophy, you'll likely have to change the build scripts of all the programs involved. Good luck.
If you are going with the binary approach (basically creating a more managed download.com), be sure to fully support NSIS installers. The NSIS installer is by far the best installer out there for open source projects, and also one of the more popular ones.