What can I learn from Linux?

[Wild Penquin]

I really don't understand these claims that installing software is difficult on Linux. IMO they probably stem from the fact that the user (making these claims) does not want to do things differently than on Windows.

 

I'd even go as far as saying, that on average, installing (and upgrading) software is easier. On Windows, you need to constantly deal with "new version is available" -popups, go to the web page of each different provider(s) of software, download and install packages separately from those...

 

On Linux, it is a few commands which will take care of upgrading every piece of sotfware on the machine. This can be configured to be automated, or so that the user is notified, or made completely manual depending on the users desires. Repositories usually contain all commonly needed applications.

 

There are cases when things can be more difficult - it depends on the use case and the users needs. For example, if the software in the distributions repository is out-of-date and the user needs a more recent version, or if the software is not available at all in the official repositories. If you choose a well-maintained, popular distribution, you can probably find some external repository for the software you need - which will integrate it in to the process described above. Way less work overall than maintaining each piece of external software separately!

 

In all fairness, of course there are cases where a repository does not exist (for more obscure / less often used software). Nothing prevents software makers to make external packages for distributions and / or scripts which will install the software "by download and double-clicking", and this is quite commonly done. But the heterogeneity and variety of distributions makes this a bit more difficult (for developers and users point of view alike).

 

TL;DR: I claim that on average, installing and updating software is way more easier and less time-consuming on Linux than on Windows. But YMMV, it is possible the user experience can be varied.

Edited May 15, 2017 by Wild Penquin
Emphasis - and a few minor points added.