[xubuntu-users] Software Updater package?

[Peter Flynn]

On 09/28/2013 08:09 PM, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
> On Sat, 2013-09-28 at 19:04 +0100, George DiceGeorge wrote:
>> I dont want to understand Linux,
>> I want an OS like Xubuntu / UbuntuStudio
>> with nice clear menus, and easy updates,
>> and Software Center,
>> and no command line jiggery pokery.
> 
> Synaptic is a very good GUI to handle packages from repositories.

Synaptic is excellent; Software Centre is mediocre. But Software Centre
doesn't expose internals in the same way that Synaptic does. New users
don't want (or need) to see anything except whole packages.

>> an OS I can recommend to people with old WinXP machines
>> as that is now bloated and not supported much longer against viruses etc.
> 
> Linux user space isn't a replacement for Windows.

It can be; but it won't be adequate until newcomers are shielded against
internals.

>> But what is the best replacement for winXP on such old machines,
>> (and old users)
>> Xbtuntu, Lubuntu ,  or lxle.net ?

I have had considerable success with highly-motivated users with
Xubuntu. But these are mostly graduate students who can absorb new
information. I can't give it to my mother to replace XP.

> The workflow provided by Xfce4 should be ok for XP users, but there
> still is the issue, that Linux user space isn't Windows. This is exactly
> what I dislike, when Linux user space fakes to be another OS, because
> this makes Linux user space to something that is against the original
> policy of Linux, to keep it simple.

But unfortunately Linux *isn't* simple. It's unnecessarily complex for
newcomers.

> My intention isn't to make it harder to use Linux, but to keep it easy.

It's not easy for newcomers because it uses modes of operation that are
alien and user-hostile. Some of these are defaults, some are harder to
change. But they all conspire to make the newcomer take one look and
turn away. There have been huge changes, and many applications *are* now
easier to use than they used to be; but some are still buried in the old
attitude that if it was hard to write, it should be hard to use.

> By faking that Linux userspace is Windows it doesn't become easier, but
> harder to use.

We don't need to fake up Windows (horrible thought). We just need to
stop erecting barriers to new users.

> And again, I'm not against GUIs, I'm against crappy GUIs.

Amen. We have rather a lot of those, still.

///Peter