[CS-FSLUG] A new distro model for the real-world desktop

[Ed Hurst]

Stephen J. McCracken wrote:
>>     Principle: if installing software is made harder and not easier,
>> even if it nets a more secure, stable system, you won't get users to
>> adopt it. Linux is already harder to install software on than Mac OS X
>> or Windows, though at the net gain of easy updates. If you can keep the
>> easy updates *and* make it easier to install, you go a long way towards
>> a real world desktop.
> 
> How is "apt-get install openoffice" harder than others?  Or using
> synaptic to check a box and have it install with all dependencies?
> (Just wondering at your thought process.)

I found it hard the first time because nothing is more counter-intuitive 
than the command line with mysterious invocations you'd never imagine. 
Synaptic's only flaw is, by default, it shows a bewildering array of 
packages, and new users have no clue what most of them mean, or whether 
they need any of it, or why.

Nor do I think I like the Mac way of dragging and dropping, since I 
found that counter-intuitive. Worse, most of the clients I've shown on a 
Mac agreed *without me prompting them*.

Yes, it's counter-intuitive only because they have been corrupted first 
by Windows, but that's where they are and where we have to go to rescue 
them. The best installer I've ever seen was the one which came with the 
early OpenCD. As I recall, it was a modified web browser installer, 
neatly divided into reasonable categories, not too overloaded with 
excess choices, and far better explanation of what each item was.

-- 
Ed Hurst
------------
Associate Editor, Open for Business: http://ofb.biz/
Applied Bible - http://soulkiln.org/
Kiln of the Soul - http://soulkiln.blogspot.com/