James Mohr wrote: [bits removed]
Not to be too pendantic, but I am not sure "divergence" is the right word. All the distributions are moving in the same direction, but the difference is in the details. The thing is that you *can* get the apps to work. Maybe not by simply downloading a single package. Instead you have to download a dozen to get all of the libaries, etc. However, that is changing as there are tools available that will generally get all of the necessary components for you.
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.
Well said. THIS is the most annoying part about using Linux - including SuSE : trying to update without having to jump thru hoops and walk over hot coals. Re having the tools now available "that will generally get all of the necessary components for you". The one most people seem to be impressed with is apt. But even here it takes a lot of effort to work out exactly what one needs to download and install for apt to work. On the other hand, when you decide to use fou4s the instructions there simply say to download 2 RPMs, install them and then use, say, a couple of commands to get your updates.
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
-- Computers are useless. They can only give you answers. Pablo Picasso