I've been using *nix systems since the teletype days, and it still astonishes me that MacOS can gut itself and stick something Unixy inside by sorting out a decent UI.
IMHO there isn't a hope of a Linux distribution getting onto many desktops until someone does what Microsoft has always done to shaft the competition - totally copy the leading product in the market and then when people buy it from you, improve and lock em in (as Excel did to 123, Word did to WordPerfect, Windows did to GEM and IE did to Netscape). The Linux world is so wrapped up in NOT being Windows that it can't see that it has to become Windows to stop Windows. There is no excuse for there not being a Linux UI that acts exactly like Aero Glass not to be out there right now. Windows 7 has been in public beta for an internet age. And I don't mean "superficially looks like", I mean every damn dialogue box looks the same. 2009/10/23 Scot McSweeney-Roberts <[email protected]> > > > On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 20:04, Andy <[email protected]> wrote: > >> 2009/10/23 Scot McSweeney-Roberts <[email protected] >> >: >> > What's really sad about this statement is he could have had audacity >> > installed in seconds - I guess he didn't know about the package manager. >> >> The is an "Add/Remove" entry on the applications menu. >> However some people may think this adds entries to the menu instead of >> adding or removing applications to the system. >> >> Maybe it should be renamed it to "Install/Uninstall Applications"? >> >> The odd thing is Windows refers to the same thing as "Add or Remove >> Programs" doesn't it? >> >> Andy >> >> > > I think there are 2 problems > > 1) At the moment it's labelled "Add/Remove" but it's not immediately > obvious what's being added/removed. I could swear it was called something > more obvious in previous versions, but I can't remember what (I tend to use > synaptic over add/remove, so it could change and I'd not notice). > > 2) In WIndows, Add/Remove is never really used to add software and it > doesn't have a software catalogue inside it. Someone coming from Windows > will probably not expect it to be as useful as it is. At least people are > getting used to concept of app stores, so if it's explained as an "app store > for Ubuntu where everything's free" new users might work out what it does > sooner. > > > Every time I hear the line "software is hard to install on Linux" I cringe. > Maybe what's really needed is for Microsoft to start shipping an app store > for Windows that has a least a vague similarity to way things work on modern > Linux distros. > > > > Scot > -- Brian Butterworth follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/briantist web: http://www.ukfree.tv - independent digital television and switchover advice, since 2002
