On Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 8:40 PM, Richard Lockwood<[email protected]> wrote: > Right. I think that sums it up. If I tell my Mum that, she'll look > at me as though I'm from Mars. > > To be honest, as a non-Linux user, but experienced "computer" user, I > have no idea what the hell DEB or RPM are. > > If that's the best sell you can do, it just demonstrates that desktop > Linux still isn't ready for the day to day computer user. > > Cheers, > > Rich. > > On Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 1:03 PM, Andrew Bowden<[email protected]> wrote: >> Most Linux software is now available in DEB or RPM format. There's some >> smaller packages that aren't, and commercial companies have a habit of not >> fitting in. But frankly most modern distros take an RPM and DEB and know >> exactly what to do with it so that the user need do little more than click >> on the file. > > - > Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please > visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. > Unofficial list archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >
DEB/RPM are the file extensions used for 'installers', run one and it will (On most distributions now) bring up an installer which will install said software in a couple of clicks. However the way most people should install software is to use the software available through the repository system- an "App store" if you like- of your chosen distribution, which at least on Ubuntu is partnered with a set of tools that make it a doddle to install almost anything, as the Ubuntu/Debian repositories are sufficiently large enough to cover most free software available. The add/remove program installer make it about as easy as you can to install the most common software that end users want. The issue here is that they work in a different way to the less structured windows system, where you can grab $randomsoftware.exe and it will probably install. The issue is packaging commercial software for linux systems, as everyone seems to do it there own way, often not tying into the system very well, or causing problems at update time. This happens to some extent on other systems, I have been using OSX for a few days now, and installing the Adobe suite was not intuitive as it should have been, it works outside of the 'drag the icon to the applications folder' way that is the normal method. Yes, there are still usability issues that need work, and these are being worked on constantly to improve, we only need to look back a few years, I'm talking 2004/5 even, where there was a good chance you wouldn't be able to get a graphical desktop on a laptop, and a lot of functionality wasn't there (Wireless, 3D acceleration, Device support). What Linux really needs to succeed is a standout reason to switch, at the moment it requires discussion and persuasion, If someone asks you 'Why should I use this Ubuntu/Mandriva/Fedora thing, there isn't the 5 second none sentence soundbite as a reason. Matt. - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
