linux = impossible? (no offense meant!)

[JoeHill]

On Sat, 08 Nov 2003 10:19:15 -0500
"ln @post.com" <linuxnewbie-pCGr9Sw2R8Y at public.gmane.org> uttered:

> Thought you would all get a chuckle (I hope) from this e-mail my
> teenage (grade 12) son sent me.  Obviously he has a love-hate
> relationship with linux.
> 
> But, on the serious side, WHY is it so difficult to install anything
> on linux?  Can't we make installing software as easy as it is on
> Windows?

That's a very common first impression with Linux, "why can't I just
click on this thing and it works...?"

It's really *not* that difficult, it's just a different process than
most people are used to, so the perception is that it is more difficult.

For example, in Mandrake, I open MCC, software installation, type the
name of the software I want installed, it tells me if there are any
dependencies that need to be resolved, and once given the "go-ahead",
off it goes and gets the software, installs it, configures it if
necessary, and it's ready to run. In KDE, in most cases, it even adds
convenient menu entry. There are, however, exceptions, and this is one
of them.

Certainly there is room for improvement, but Linux software
installation, even with distros that have excellent package management
like Debian or Mandrake, is always going to be different, and for very
*good* reasons, in regards to security and stability just to name a
couple. Personally, I downloaded the amsn RPM package (latest), and
from a root console (something newbs may or may not have to get used to
at some point, in most cases, esp with teenagers, it actually makes them
feel like a "l33t h4x0r") I typed "urpmi amsn [tab] [enter]" and there I
was. I was actually surprised that someone had not added an amsn package
to contribs or something...

What distribution was this software install happening on anyway?

-- 
JoeHill
Registered Linux user #282046
Homepage: www.orderinchaos.org
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So little time, so little to do.
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