> > So, with current tools, a newbie may not find the software needed, only > > because it is already installed. It happens. Isn't that sad ? > > I think the vast majority of those cases are not happening > because those applications are so large they don't get unnoticed > by the user (e.g. whe mozilla/xmms/etc is installed, it's > difficult to miss it in the menus). > > > It would be better that rpmdrake also show already-installed software, > > maybe greyed out or with a mention "this software is already installed > > on your machine". > > No, it's a long time decision.
This "no" sounds do definitive to me... I agree with the separation between the installation/remove software: it may help to avoid mistakes. But newbies are not always aware of all the solutions offered by the already installed software. I would like for myself a building of both lists, installed/installable, make the search by default on both of them, with greyed results for the already installed. Eventually, an option could allow to switch the search on only one list, or both (in order to be quicker, only the installable list may be build first, the second one being build on request). A personnal reason is that I use those tools also when I don't know which tools to use, as it gives an easy access to the description of the software... > Though, this can lead to an interesting idea: when doing a search > and nothing is found, I might add a special dialog when some > already installed software match, right. In my case, I would like to have an access to both list simultaneously, even if only on request... -- Didier
