I think whatever they do to make Ubuntu easier for newbies the better.

If you go into a Linux distro intending to find Windows and a Windows like environment I ask you one thing,,, Why dont you just stick with Windows if you want to use Windows? Linux is not Windows and I personally pray it never ends up like it. Now I will agree with you that some things do need to be improved like hardware support out of the box, but at the same time, how many of you have ever installed a new version of Windows? It is generally harder to set up than a Linux install. The reason everything just works supposedly on Windows is because your hardware manufacturer has done all the hardwork for you of installing drivers.

Try installing Windows 7 when its released and I bet you have to hunt down at least a few drivers to get everything working and that will involve searching the web and going god knows were.

At least in Linux everything is in the package manager. How hard can it be to open Synaptic and click install people. Seems harder to me to have to download a installer from a web page and then double click it followed by using the wizard. In linux all you have to do is like 2 clicks.

Anyways Im ranting.

My point again is LINUX IS NOT WINDOWS dont go into Linux expecting everything to be like Windows because its not. And if you want your Operating system to be like windows than just use windows. Why would Linux have ever been created if everyone just wanted to use Windows. Thats just it, Linux users Prefer Linux to Windows and Windows users either prefer Windows to Linux or there just too lazy to learn a new OS so they try Linux and to there shock its not like Windows so they have to go back to Windows because they dont want to learn a new OS but at the same time they dont want to deal with viruses and security holes, and instability so they keep pressuring Linux developers to turn Linux into Windows so they dont have to learn anything. Look linux is opensource if you want Linux to be like Windows than learn how to code and make your own Linux distro thats just like Windows. Or learn how to use Linux and quit trying to get Linux turned Into Windows to save you all the trouble of learning something new.

Ok Im done… :)

Please! Ok, what am I talking about, eh? I want a tagging system similar to what Gmail has. I think the current system puts things into single buckets, when most packages fit into multiple buckets.

For example, a game. All games are put into the games bucket, but that's just not very descriptive. What if I want a 3d game? What if I want it multiplayer? What if I want a single player 3d game, or a multiplayer 2d game, etc, etc.

BTW, I think this is a great idea in general. I have always found the current installers (all of them) to be lacking in quality information about the packages. The package description is helpful, but you can't sort on that (at least I don't know how). I think some of the negative comments are underestimating the learning curve that the current package systems have. It's this bump at the beginning that allot of us can forget about. If you don't know what programs are good, and you don't know what a package is, that bump can be intimidating.

Ooo, another cool feature would would be custom description lists like Amazon.com lists. That way, someone could come up with their own reviews for various niche softwares.

Submit your websites, blogs, videos to http://www.zillionsb.com and get 1000s of targeted visitors everyday for free. It also helps your websites/blogs gain valuable backlinks.

Let the other bloggers cast their votes to push your posts up for a greater visibility. Enjoy a free, huge traffic to your sites.

Thanks

Sara
http://www.zillionsb.com

the "interface" to synaptic is being changed, the 'synaptic' base is still there, hence you can still sudo apt-get install XXXX

Creating a unified 'software store' fulfils the majority of your gripe! ONE location to install and remove Linux apps, no more tar.gz's, install/remove wine apps too. all from one window – no more "jubilee of options" as another reader put it.

And having a "unified" package system isn't workable across all Linuxes – though debian based linuxes DO have a standardised "package" – it's called .deb and it's what most major software is available in.

RPM does the same for red hat based linuxes… and err… yeah that's about it.

Software distributed as tar.gz's etc are folders full of source code with, usually, an install script inside. These can be converted to deb very easily, it's not the rest of the worlds fault if you don't get on with the way things are currently. That's why they're changing.

how about adding new features like having better control (user friendly) over installation and better off-line installation/backup support.

in windows you can easily distribute/backup programes by managing EXE files around. try that with linux (you wouldn't wanna do that if you're not a computer science/engineer graduate !)

wanna install your software in a custom location? easy in windows. try that in linux (most users wouldn't have a clue what to do)

last but not the least how about making a standardized software distribution format (like EXE in windows) that is hardware and specific linux version independent so that developers actually have an incentive to make their software available in that format instead of depending on volunteers. i mean when was the last time you saw most recent version of a software in repos? and also not every software is on the repos (for the same reason).