appdb issue: can't search for apps platinum on 1.0.x!

[Dan Kegel]

On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 2:30 PM, Ben Klein <shacklein at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Their reply is probably "well, then do another stable release.
>> Our policy is that we prefer to bundle only stable releases."
>
> We should at least try! From what I've seen, Ubuntu like bleeding-edge
> stuff that likes to break other things, like pulseaudio.
>
> Maybe their problem is with the 2-week release cycle. How many
> releases would there be between Ubuntu releases? 6 months, 13 releases
> of Wine. Still, isn't it worth contacting the Ubuntu Wine package
> maintainer to get their viewpoint?

Scott, that's you, right?   Can you speak to that?

> Unfortunately, new users of Linux systems, particularly Debian-based
> distros, are often confused by package management in general. My
> brother, who really is a whiz with Windows systems, couldn't work out
> how to get new software into Ubuntu. He thought that because
> individual developers didn't provide binary packages, he had to
> compile everything. I tried to teach him how to use synaptic, and he
> said "This is stupid. It should be like MacOSX where you just download
> a package and it's installed."

Ubuntu tries to make this simple by putting the Add/Remove link right
on the main Applications menu.   New users still get tripped up
by misunderstandings - see the amazing clusterf*ck at
http://blogs.computerworld.com/updating_software_in_linux_three_strikes_and_youre_out
I know exactly what confused him, and most users won't run into it,
but hopefully Ubuntu and Linux in general can improve to handle
even that kind of user.

> I think that properly educating new users is more valuable than
> telling them "click on this magic link that does it for you".

That only works for most users if the things you're trying to teach
them are extremely simple and usable.  Having to type anything
beyond a single simple URL - and possibly a simple package name -
is a serious roadblock.

I think that clicking on a single link to add the Wine repo to the
package manager strikes a good balance between simplicity
and explainability.
- Dan