Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (3729 mails)

[Curtis Rey <crrey@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> On the other hand. I consider myself a linux expert compared to the
> majority of the users, but a "knowledgable user" compared to many on this
> list. However, I personally find the mechanism for installing new software
> very annoying in comparison to Windows. Today I had to install two new
> products on my Windows machine at work and they installed very easily.
> Recently I wanted to install something on my Linux machine but I found out
> I was missing a couple of things that needed other things to install, which
> needed still other things.
>
> I'm all for different distros as Linux is all about choice. However it
> should be a "choice" like Microsoft where I cut myself off from everything
> else.
>
> My two cents.
>
> Regards,
>
> jimmo

Yes, this has been one of my biggest arguments and frustrations with Linux.   
The "universal" installer much like in Windows (e.g. installshield).  The 
fromer devs at the defunct Loki made some very good efforts in this direction 
and a few have adopted it.  Though most prominantly in games, I believe this 
is the gui for the nvidia installer as well.  

On the subject of Libs, this is also a frustrations since some libs are just 
different enough to cause seg faults in some programs but not others.  Take 
Ximian.  Just the fact that, like mandrake, they have a proprietary extension 
tacked onto them makes things harder than necessary IMHO.  Rpm has yet to 
make the distinction of libs in this manner, and the ability to distinquish 
the differences is not evident in most case AFAICT.   Another divergence is 
/usr vs /opt.  RH sticks gui's in /usr, which stands for Unix System 
Resources.  But to the best of my knowledge Gnome or KDE is not an essential 
component to make the system run.  It is however an "optional" component and 
rightfully belongs in the /opt directory tree.  I can however remember 
reviews, especially of SuSE, where the reviewer would praise the OS but then 
make comments like "but why opt?  time to get with it!", whatever that means.

I have heard/read that one of the biggest grips of OEMs is taken from the case 
of nvidia drivers.  When upgrading the drivers dependencies are broken and 
this cause a lot of issue for what would otherwise be a quick 5 minute stint 
to upgrade a driver.  However, as I stated earlier, nvidia changing over to 
the installer is an attempt to alleviate this problem and so far I think this 
should be the way most others go - it's all about making things as painless 
as possible and like it or not Windows has gone to great lengths to do this.

I really think it's all about Linux distributors and even the devs to stop 
trying to "corner/gain" market share right now and concentrate on ease of use 
and a commonality that will address much of the present shorcomings in this 
area - market share will follow after that.

Cheers, Curtis.