
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.
Please, if the command line is so scary and evil for normal computer uses, can somebody then please explain me how I was able to teach this:
$ ls
...
$ emacs filename.tex
$ latex filename.tex
$ xdvi filename.dvi
in a language I didn't know well, in very short time, to someone who only knew Windows 3.1 and Microsoft Word?