package management was: [SLUG] Red Hat Slagging

[Anand Kumria <wildfire@nospam.progsoc.uts.edu.au>]

On Wed, Jul 12, 2000 at 09:42:04PM +1000, jasonb@nospam.ce.com.au wrote:
> On Wed, 12 Jul 2000, Alexander Else wrote:
> 
> > You might have had to learn something.
> > 
> > At 18:12 12/07/2000 +1000, Peter Nelson wrote:
> > >I know this is very late in the conversation, but being newish to Linux and
> > >Unix I would have been up sh1t street without RPM and GNORPM.
> > 
> 
> That is an unfair, unjust and unacceptable way to treat a new user and
> to try and boost your own ego.  Peter was making a point that RedHat and
> RPMS's made it easier for him to start using Linux - this is Great as we
> need as many people to start using the platform as possible.
> 
> RPM's do save time and provide a lot of benefits. (Note - I do not care to
> get into a deb vs rpm debate, so don't bother).  Remember the days before
> package management systems ?  upgrades were a nightmare - so most people
> didn't bother.

But it isn't RPMs or DEBs. It is package management. That is the real key.

Things like Installshield make it really simple for users to install things
and simple for vendors to create package but hard for the system to manage
effectively.

Installshield are not going to put themselves out of business voluntarily
so unless someone has written an installsheild to package (.rpm or .deb)
converter, software vendors (who seem to only want two things: 1} simple
end user installs 2} the ability to put some interesting stuff on screen
while installs occurr) won't be converting at a significatn rate.

And until Joe Random Users sees that their "favourite" (or something similiar)
program is available under Linux you won't see an increasing demand for Linux

Anand


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