So Mark Shuttleworth is a crackpot because he is trying to make the Desktop Linux experience better (i.e easier) for everyone? Couldn't disagree more.
There is a reason why Ubuntu is so popular in contrast with other Linux distributions - it is because it is easier to use than other distributions (notice I didn't say more powerful, more secure, or any other thing - I said *easy*). Although at first glance both Synaptic and the Software Center interact as a frontend to apt, there are huge distinctions in their approach. Yes, as of today, functionally speaking, Synaptic is more feature-rich than Software Center. Heck, apt, is more powerful than either one. But, for a Desktop, that doesn't matter at all. There is one lesson that took me several years to learn. No I didn't learn it during my undergrad or grad CS courses or after a decade of programming as a career. It is so obvious, I should be embarrassed that it took me so long to really grasp... most people use computers as a means to an end and not as an end itself. You mentioned Jeff. He definitely an expert Linux user and has been using computers for longer than some of us have been alive (I mean it as a complement by the way). And yet, when he is looking for something as simple as a good e-mail client (with a GUI - like normal humans use), he runs into problems. Let me search for email on apt: ubuntu@ip-10-123-129-144:~$ apt-cache search email |wc -l 347 ubuntu@ip-10-123-129-144: 347 options. Some jewels like "echolot - Pinger for anonymous remailers such as Mixmaster" or "chiark-scripts - chiark system administration scripts". Do I use apt? Hell yes! All the time. But for a Linux *Desktop* experience this is useless. Synaptic returns the same stuff, except that it is in a GUI - which once again is not good enough for desktop experience. Contrast that with the changes that are happening on Software Center, where there are things like ratings. Yes, those stupid stars will actually matter - because humans like to rate things they either *really love* or *really hate*. A very basic crowdsourcing model that allows me to try the packages in a certain order before having to become an expert in Linux e-mail clients. Software for humans. Some of us, just want the stupid GUI and compiler and e-mail client and chat client and whatever else to *just work* so we can go out and code useful stuff that will help people get their things done. I want Mercurial to work so I can commit to my open source projects - I don't want to compile Mercurial. Huge difference. I want to know which diff tool people use the most so I can pick that and actually merge conflicting code changes. I don't want to have to filter through 300 options, and become the expert of diff tools first. Maybe at some point I would want to, but definitely not for every piece of software that will be installed in my Desktop. I applaud the balls that Mark has to make decisions like this and I love how Ubuntu, little by little, keeps getting closer to a decent *Desktop* OS. If people don't like it, there are plenty of distributions out there that will keep having the same look and feel that suits you. Heck, you can even go and compile your kernel, windows manager and whatever else scratch. - Ragi From: Chris Penn <cantorm...@gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [LinuxUsers] Synaptic Dropped From Ubuntu 11.10 > To: SoCal LUG Users List <linuxusers@socallinux.org> > Message-ID: <banlktimwo6yd_1zbkqg95md4ry3hipl...@mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > I think most people that understand the power of anything are gonna > use apt most of the time. Sometimes people have a need for a gui, for > whatever reason, and the Software Center is not a replacement for > Synaptic in this capacity. > > Chris... > > On Sat, Jun 25, 2011 at 11:21 PM, Mark Holmquist <marktrac...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> Unexpectedly, Canonical has decided that it is time for the Software > >> Center to replace Synaptic as well. So, in the next daily build of > >> Ubuntu 11.10, Synaptic will no longer be installed by default. ?The > >> Software Center?!!! > > > > Brings to mind the GNOME 3 design choices: > http://www.christoph-wickert.de/blog/2011/06/25/gnome-developer-quote-of-the-day/ > > > > Maybe Ubuntu 11.10 is not being developed for people who like a > featureful package manager GUI.... > > > > Besides, most people who understand the power of Synaptic would probably > be better off with gnome-terminal + apt-get anyway. > > >
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