usability study: "30 days with Ubuntu" author had trouble with wine

[Dan Kegel]

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/231065/ubuntu_linux_day_23_would_you_like_some_wine_with_that.html

First problem - ubuntu's package manager is unclear:

"I opened up my handy-dandy Ubuntu Software Center and typed Wine in
the search field, and...WTF? There are 14 matching items that show up.
Many of them are variations on 'Microsoft Windows Compatibility
Layer'. One has '(meta package)' at the end, another has '(dummy
package)'. They each have a little sub-title like 'wine', or
'wine-gecko', or 'wine1.3-gecko'. Why isn't there just a single app
clearly called 'Wine'?
I didn't really have any clue which of these various software packages
is the real Wine, but the one at the top--the 'meta package'--had the
most ratings and ranked highly at 4.5 stars, so I decided to give that
one a shot."

Second problem - he expected to run a program called Wine, found
wineconfig, did something with it, and then got back on track:
"Once it completed installing, I went to the Applications lens on the
Unity bar and typed in Wine. It claims I have three apps installed
that fit that description: Configure Wine, Uninstall Wine Software,
and Winetricks. I was hoping to actually run Wine, but given these
three options it seems that Configure Wine is the logical first
choice.
I clicked Configure Wine and the Wine Configuration console popped up
(go figure). At the bottom of the Applications tab, it specific which
version of Windows to emulate...I mean be compatible with. It defaults
to Windows XP, but I changed it to Windows 7...
OK. Now, I am ready to run some Windows software, right?"

Third problem: he expected Office 2010 to install and run

Fourth problem: he couldn't even run the installer:
" I opened up the folder from my Windows drive where I store
downloaded software, right-clicked my Microsoft Office 2010
installation executable and clicked 'Open With Wine Windows Program
Loader', and...got an error message. Something to the effect that this
software is not marked as executable.
Windows logoRunning Windows software in Wine proved convoluted and
elusive.I checked with Google, and found a helpful walk-through from
Psychocats.net called Using Wine on Ubuntu. Apparently, the fact that
the software is an EXE is not obvious enough, so I have to first
right-click the file, go into the Properties, and click a checkbox
designating the file as executable.
Seems convoluted. The problem is, every time I click the checkbox my
check disappears. It won't let me make my file executable. I tried
looking for more help on Google to no avail. I tried a couple other
executable installation files, but couldn't mark those as executable
either. I assume it is a permissions thing--like I need to somehow
access the file permissions with root privileges in order to be able
to make those changes. That is just a theory, though.
So, no Windows software running for me just yet."


Ouch, ouch, ouch.