[plug] Easy Installation: Linux Desktop Market

[John Knight]

I think this argument is a little biased. It makes the Linux method sound 
like.... sainthood or something, without pointing out the flaws. Something 
that annoys me as a Linux writer is how other other writers paint rosy 
pictures *only* of Linux, and suggest that the Linux method is flawless. As 
much as I like many things in Linux, there certainly are methods that get up 
my goat. ;) I just find some of our endless bouts of defending the Linux 
holy land as pointless, when all I have to do is show my windoze using mates 
how Linux software is installed and they take an instant dislike to it.

Does this make them automatically stupid? Like the rest of the world? Or is 
there perhaps something wrong with us? Do we have to change our way of 
thinking as a community? It's not that things are unfeasible, it's that 
we're not accommodating. Whenever something like .autopackage or some other 
'wild' thing comes along, people turn instant prejudice against it. The 
point of these ideas isn't to replace what is already in place, but to add 
to it. If you don't wanna use it, fine..... but why feel threatened and 
shout it down? why not try something new? It's just so ironic that a 
community based around choice and freedom can be so amazingly stubborn.

As an example, an autopackage dev was on a ubuntu irc channel. He got 
permanently banned, and he didn't say anythig inflammatory. All he said was 
how cool it is that he got a new gaim .package working on his ubuntu system 
which wasn't in the respository. The reason for his banning?

quote:
the official reason: I was encouraging noobs to blow their computers up with 
autopackage by saying it gaim 1.5.0 autopackage caused no problems on my 
installation of hoary. LOL I did not curse nor was I rude... I just said it 
worked great for me..

'nuff said? why do we have to be such nerds? Why can't we just respect 
choice, and allow for different methods? Why would a new user be interested 
in idiotic debian-slackware-rpm wars? Why do we have to attach an instant 
stigma to a method from another OS? Have we ever taken the time to think 
that there are good aspects about other OSes, and as an OSS community, we 
have the freedom to take advantage of these methods if we like?

"...it was brilliant, there was three up against a thousand, and boy, did we 
give those three heaps!"



>
>Leon Brooks (leon at cyberknights.com.au) wrote:
>
> > The Windows way is to bundle every single dependency into the installer
> > program, which bloats them and leads directly to a multitude of
> > semi-compatible copies of the same thing floating around the machine,
> > with results you may well imagine (or observe, if you're not so
> > fortunate).
> >
>
>Just so you know, when I explained the concept of libraries to my noob 
>father
>he almost immediately said soemthing like this, but more from a perspective 
>of
>'I guess windows apps dont share many libraries because one company doesnt
>want to support another'. Its quite an eye opener to realise this - for 
>most
>intents and purposes DLLs are completely useless in windows environment,
>beyond the system DLLs. You might as well statically compile your app.
>
>He also said to me last night 'Windows is like buying a car and being told 
>to
>shutup and drive. Linux is like buying a car and having the salesman hand 
>you
>a full workshop manual'. Being technically minded, he prefers the latter :)
>Quite amazing to watch him take a few simple concepts and come up with 
>ideas
>about 'how it should work', which more often than not are similar to the 
>way
>it actually works. Last night he asked me how linux knows the difference
>between a file its allowed to execute (or as he put it 'convert from the HD 
>to
>machine code'), and a data file like a document or something. He proposed
>there must be some distinguishing factor beyond the executable bits. I 
>showed
>him 'file', and explained ELF to him. I imagine he's at home trying 'file' 
>on
>lots of different files right now :)
>
>--
>=================
>Simon Scott
>simon at chrome64.org
>mob: 0409113359
>=================
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>PLUG discussion list: plug at plug.org.au
>http://www.plug.org.au/mailman/listinfo/plug
>Committee e-mail: committee at plug.linux.org.au