I'm new to Linux and there's hundreds of software packages out there. I'd like to know the basic function, advantages, disavantages of these programs (& some comments too), but I don't have the time to test each one out and compare them.

It would also be good to have an ordered list of similar programs with ratings

whoa that's general. what kinda software do you need?

It's not what kind of software do I need, but gettign a working knoweledge of what is out there and useful. I have no time and too much to do. And want to build up my Linux skills in my spare time.

there's a hell of a lot. i don't know of any one site that will explain this all to you, because there's just so much linux software out there - there's software specific to certain desktop environments, software specific to certain distros, software developed by different companies, people..... do you want some sort of list of linux software that's equivalent to windows software maybe?

you'll just learn as you go along. you'll say, "i want something that will do this." you google this plus "linux" and you'll find plenty of stuff.

Based on feedback, we may expand the reviews section in the future to include *some* popular software categories.

--jeremy

There is a lot out there, and I have no idea what half of it does. The RH9 install I did has half a dozen programs that all do the same thing. I've heard that the whole philophy behind Linux is to do one thing & do it well, but what I see happening is that everyone is charging off in different directions. And this is a great thing, but for me it's annoying because I just want one program that forfulls the desired function. I don't have time to chase down, install, test, and evaluate the many different programs for the one task.

Yes sether I know it's a big task, but wont Linux be made better by it?

it's all well documented. yes, i understand that when you're doing an install it's hard to determine what packages you'll need. but without all those packages available what is it really? it's just as bad as windows, where it comes with one default program for each job - i think it's a lot nicer to have many options in the install of different programs for different tasks.

I disagree with the quality of documentation in linux. In terms of the Software Development LifeCycle, Open Source Softwware stops short of good User Documentation. In the end I want to spend my time creating stuff, as opposed to learning more software or decyphering docs.

BTW If any one wants me to write User Docs of their project, drop me an Email.

We all (well, mostly all) disagree with the quality of documentation. This is a long standing issue. It's usually explained by the fact that software is writen by programmers and that's all the documentation they would need.

Rather than wait for a project to make contact with you, why not find one that you wish to help and offer your assistance?

...or feel free to dive into the LQ Wiki:

http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/

--jeremy

I definitely support the idea of section "software" in the LQ Reviews.