<br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="im"><br>
<br>
> - wasn't there something in the news last year or the year before<br>
> wherein Debian recognized that their packaging system was ungainly,<br>
> and was going to work with others to harmonize software distribution.<br>
> i.e. Migrate to rpm / yum?<br>
<br>
</div>That would be news to me. URL?</blockquote><div><br>Never heard of that either. <br> <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>
<div class="im"><br>
<br>
> - these threads point out yet again that 'it should just be easier.'<br>
> (Got me how to make it so.)<br>
<br>
</div>If the end user uses only the official package repositories, uses a<br>
GUI that isn't too scary (synaptic is a little scary, but that's<br>
mostly because of the sheer enormity of the number of packages),<br>
relies on the auto updater to check for security updates and installs<br>
them, then it already is pretty easy.<br>
<br>
Because if so, then dependencies are solved for you, software validation<br>
is solved for you, security is solved for you, and clean package removal<br>
is even solved for you.<br>
<br>
It's worlds ahead of Windows. But people who expect it to work like<br>
Windows will be frustrated or disappointed.<br>
<div class="im"></div></blockquote><div><br>Amen. An the RedHat/CentOS way even!<br> <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="im">> - An earlier list thread pointed out how one should just be able to<br>
> download a 'package', double-click setup, and get on with their day.<br>
> And they should be able to repeat that experience on any other<br>
> machine. That may be a pipe dream, but I can sure appreciate the<br>
> sentiment.<br>
<br>
</div>This is the Windows mentality that's getting in everyone's way.</blockquote><div><br>Absolutely. Once you get off the rpmfind/foo's rpms/bar's builds mindset<br>and go to Debian/Ubuntu you can never go back to hunt for rpms.<br>
<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>
Sure, sometimes you do need to download a random package off the interwebs<br>
and pray that it isn't trojaned. But with Debian, that need is<br>
far down the list. It would be nice if it were easier, but then you<br>
bring along some of same the security problems that Vista tried to solve<br>
and got the smack down for.</blockquote><div><br>Even commercial closed source vendors are realizing this. I have two closed<br>source applications on my laptop: Skype and Opera. Both vendors have <br>realized that providing a repository is a convenient way to get their user base to<br>
use they software and stay up to date. Opera provided downloadable .deb for a while<br>initially, compiled against various Ubuntu releases. Then they provided a repository<br>and even included their .deb in Canonical's non free repository. <br>
</div></div>-- <br>Khalid M. Baheyeldin<br><a href="http://2bits.com">2bits.com</a>, Inc.<br><a href="http://2bits.com">http://2bits.com</a><br>Drupal optimization, development, customization and consulting.<br>Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. -- Edsger W.Dijkstra<br>
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. -- Leonardo da Vinci<br>