
A reader asks:
Why is Linux still not as user friendly as the two other main OSes with all the people developing for Linux? Is it because it is mainly developed by geeks?
My initial feeling when reading this question was that it was kind of a throwaway, kind of a slam in disguise as a genuine question. But the more I thought about it, the more intrigued I felt. There truly are a large amount of resources being dedicated to the development of Linux and its operating system halo (DEs, drivers, apps, etc). Some of these resources are from large companies (IBM, Red Hat, Novell). Why isn't Linux more user-friendly? Is this an inherent limitation with open source software?
Member since:
2005-06-30
I am not debating on which way is the best, as it would be completely futile for the very reasons you have mentioned...
To clear things up, my point is: repositories are great, but it would be nice to have a completary system for installing foreign packages, as you won't find everything in those repositories. I am well aware that you can download and install DEB or RPM packages you found on the Internet, but these packages are usually tied to specific distributions.
That's all, really.