Linked by Kevin Russo on Thu 31st Mar 2005 18:40 UTC
I read a lot of reviews comparing GNU/Linux and Microsoft Windows, and inevitably the topic of installing software comes up. Most reviews indicate that installing software in Windows is much easier than that of the desktop GNU/Linux world. I decided to do my own comparison based on my desktop usage to see the difference. The following are my results. Those of you that come from the Windows world may be a tad bit surprised at the ease in which software can be installed.
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Just a few thoughts about this comparison, mainly because I'm a using both Windows and Linux and I know these installation problems all too well. Probably good to note here is that I'm biased towards Linux when it comes to stability and performance and I'm biased towards Windows when it comes to user-friendliness.
No, I'm serious here: If you really want to make such a comparison, try to be a bit more scientific and a bit less biased. Otherwise, just forget about it.
First: it's not worth much if you compare the installation procedures of only one single piece of software. To get a good picture, you'd have to compare the installations of about a dozen different programs which the "ordinary desktop user" uses.
Second: While Linux program installations can range from very easy & straightforward (using a package management system) to really scary (downloading source code & compiling & dependency hell), all Windows program installations are about equally complex (or easy) for the user.
Third: If you count mouse clicks in the Windows installation, you have to count key presses in the Linux installation as well