OSNews is Exploring the Future of Computing

Linked by David Adams on Mon 24th Aug 2009 09:21 UTC

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?

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RE[10]: Comment by ven-

by Wrawrat on Tue 25th Aug 2009 14:05 UTC in reply to "RE[9]: Comment by ven-"

Member since:
2005-06-30

You claimed that the repository system is bad because it doesn't always have what you want. The point of what I was saying is that you can't prove something by just saying it and that's what you're trying to do.

My initial message was: "If installing software outside the main repositories of a distro was such a non-issue, people wouldn't raise it as an issue."

The only claim I've made was that a centralised repository system isn't perfect, as you depend on the maintainers. If the maintainers don't care about your software, you're out of luck.

You're right about that. I didn't realize that a new version came out two weeks ago. Calling that a deal-breaker is a bit far fetched though, especially since it is relatively easy to obtain outside the repos.

A few months. You don't even know what you're talking about, yet you keep telling me I'm wrong?

I never said this specific case was a deal-breaker. However, you claimed that getting software outside repositories is a rarity, yet a significant part of my software is customly installed on my system.

I don't think I'd represent the average user, but does that make this a non-issue? Should we only consider average web-surfin' grandmas?

Nice cop out. It just proves you are just repeating BS and don't have any personal reasons for your dislike of a centralized packaging system.

Geez, I'm sorry to be a Linux user that doesn't think like you... Seriously, why would I bother with such futile discussion if I had no personal motivation?

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