Re: [BLUG] My Ubuntu/Linux bitch

Hey there,

For each given system, I would say that installing most software most of
the time just works, provided that you learn what you need to do. Even a
fairly novice user can learn to build SlackBuilds, and they only have to
do that when a prebuilt package does not already exist. It's not much more
work than anything else. Dragging and Dropping in Mac, Installer Wizards
on Windows, and Package Managers on Linux machines are all fairly easy.
When things work the way they are supposed to, it's fairly
straightforward on any system. Removing software can be more hairy on
some than others, but most users don't care about that as much.

The problem isn't in the perfect situation, but rather the case where
things break. They will, especially when installing software. Debian
faithful can argue all day long that this shouldn't happen on the stable
platform, but the truth is: the normal desktop user isn't going to be
running Debian stable, and certainly isn't going to be content with the
normal software installed in a Debian repository (it's either too out of
date, or they want something they saw somewhere else). Even if they can
manage to stay within the repositories, bugs are bound to happen when
running the unstable versions, and when that happens, no matter what OS
you are using, it takes more than the novice user to figure out what to
do. Many people end up learning a thing or two about their OS and learn
how to fix them, but as soon as you move to a new OS, you have to
relearn this stuff.

I don't know of any way to fix this so that everyone is happy. The
Windows solution is usually to provide a few different installers, so
one of them will likely succeed. The Mac solution is to go into the
package contents of an App file and figure out what's going wrong,
assuming that you don't already get some support from your application
provider. The Debian Package manager solution is to hopefully limit this
problem by having huge, well tested repositories, so that they don't
every "get out of the safe zone." The Slackware solution is to make the
package process as simple as possible so it is easy to fix. The solution
with RPMs is usually to find a new RPM from some other place. :-)

None of these solutions is going to work for everyone. I don't know if
there is a solution that works for everyone.

--On Monday, November 16, 2009 05:53:03 PM -0500 Mark Warner
<markwarner1954@att.net> wrote:

> As my experience is limited to mostly apt/Synaptic distros, I'd venture
> to say that installing software is far *easier* for a Linux user than a
> Windows user... as long as you can break them of the habit of trying to
> download an installer and running it from the desktop. :-)

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