So i'll probably get flamed for this, but what the hell. I'm all for hearing opposing arguments, and I'd (obviously) like to hear from people who sympathise.
I've seen a number of questions on lq.org from people asking "what can happen to linux to make it more mainstream" or "how can we convert more people from windows", et cetera. Well, allow me to demonstrate a point which frustrates a good number of people in my position to no end.
I'm computer literate. I'll come straight out and say it. I know hardware, and i know windows inside and out. I've been tooling on and off with linux since Mandrake 6, and I've seen amazing progress. I'm not a linux guru, but I'm working my way to knowing it as well as I do windows. I've rested quite happily with my distro of choice, Suse 9.2 Pro, because it affords an awful lot of tweakability, as generally all distros do, but it also runs very nicely straight after the installation, which is fabulous from where I sit. And i'd be lying if I said I wasn't nice and cozy with the point-and-click updates...
Now, I've had this install on my laptop up and running for going on two months. I've installed a fair amount of software over the top, without any difficulties whatsoever. Some very well put together suites were rpm'd, so all I had to do was download a single file, point the Yast RPM mgr to it, et voila - new software. Believe me when I say that I understand that getting to this point of simplicity in an OS is no small task, and I have a great appreciation for the fact that there is a distro out there that behaves in this manner, as I have had *many* experiences to the contrary.
I decided last night I'd like to get gdesklets running (google for it if you don't know it, eye candy with moderate function).
From the Gdesklets readme:
Quote:
* Python 2.3 or higher (some distributions ship broken Python 2.4 packages),
if you want to compile gdesklets you'll have to install the development
package, too!
* SuSE users will need the additional python-xml package, gDesklets won't
work without it!
* python-gtk2 2.4 or higher (*)
* python-gtk2-dev if you want to compile gDesklets
* python-pyorbit 2.0.1 (**)
* python-gnome2 2.6.x or higher (***)
* python-gnome2-dev if you want to compile gDesklets
* libgtop2 (2.8.0 or higher is recommended)
* libgtop2-dev if you want to compile gDesklets
* librsvg (2.8.0 or higher from http://librsvg.sf.net)
* librsvg-dev if you want to compile gDesklets
* some sensors or controls may have extra requirements
|
As luck would have it, apparently Suse 9.2 is running entirely outdated versions. Of every, single, one of these packages. And to top it off, I've spent today digging around rpm repositories trying to find RPMs of all these versions. No such luck.
That, in itself, I won't complain about. I wouldn't expect Microsoft to maintain the latest version of every 3rd party driver or API they put out with Windows, and I won't ask Novell to, either.
So, I am looking at downloading every one of these eleven packages, double checking *their* deps, and compiling and installing them manually, before I can even compile what it is i'm trying to get at! For me, and my level of linux expertise (or lack thereof in this instance), i'm looking at an hour, maybe two or more if I hose something down. But more than that, I'm looking at eleven seperate programme installs... All so I can get pretty helper apps to run on my desktop? The means far outweigh the ends.
Maybe this is an isolated incident, but I don't think so. So to answer one question about making linux more user-friendly or whatever you'd like to call it, make software installation a piece of cake! If you're producing software, and it requires updated versions of A, B, and C, which you know many distros aren't shipping with, why not take a few extra minutes to throw some of your expertise in the ring, and include them in the packages?
I, personally, would send a donation to a developer who took the time to make things that much easier on the end user, so that your RPM manager of choice comes back at you with
"Mlar-Base-ver-X Required, Install as well?",
rather than
"Mlar-Base-ver-X Required - Not Found, Go Eat Yourself"
So thank you for your time. I appreciate your listening to my rant.