Software Management in your OS
Every PC owner has this problem, most don’t realize it, but it is Software Management. I am talking about how one manages the software installations on their PC. This isn’t a Windows centric post, or a Linux centrix post, but every OS has this problem. Every OS and software package attacks this differently. Windows XP and Vista has this add / remove programs feature, which compared to what it used to be in Windows 98 , is awesome. But all this allows you to do is track already installed software. How do you now manage updates of this software. Some applications have built-in update checkers, and a few will go ahead and download and prompt you to start the install. Adobe Flash, Java, Mozilla Firefox, and even Open Office all do this to some extent. But what about the rest of your applications. Most just sit there, unchecked, unmodified, and in some cases vulnerable to malicious attacks. Some older Linux distributions had similar problems, but the community saw the problem and developed a solution. No Red Hat and the equivalent’s can not only update their system via rpm, but they have up2date which checks all installed packages for newer ones. Apt-Get has the same features. Gentoo has portage. FreeBSD has it’s Ports. But the two biggest OS distributions have nothing. Mac OS X and Windows. Since Mac is based on unix, people have ported over FreeBSD ports system, to help with the task, but it still doesn’t work with the native system. It is kind of ran along side the system.
I think one of the reasons for this, is that Linux distributions really take control of the PC Environment, which one could argue is why they provided a faster and more stable machine. But think about it, each Linux distribution is merely a way of combining the Linux Kernel and other open source software. They didn’t stop at just the software needed to boot up, but just about every imaginable piece that a user could want. This is what differs from Windows and Mac. With these two, Microsoft and Apple are busy developing a kernel that can run on all machines, all the support libraries, the API’s and then on top of that they provide a ‘bare’ minimal amount of software to create a usable desktop. They haven’t taken the time to think about the other software that a user might want.
Now, this is where it gets tricky. With OSS software, this is very little to worry about with the distribution of that software. When you start working with software you have to pay for, then it gets tricky. You have to consider, does this commercial piece of software allow updates, if so for how long, or how many versions. If you get a discount on upgrades, how do you pay, who handles the payment. It really gets tricky fast.
I think I can speak for a lot of geeks when I say, we like Linux of the no hassle software management. I don’t have to worry about a lot of things when I update my servers, desktops and laptops. On my single windows machine, it is a hassle, it is a completely manual process of checking websites, downloading updates and installing. And this brings up another point, Linux has just about always thrived because of the distribution of software over the Internet. Distribution of software for Windows as primarily been through retail stores, people buying the CD and installing. So updates weren’t something to think about. But now Windows and Macs are becoming a software distribution over the internet.
If you want to improve the User Experience, don’t worry about superficial effects of minimizing a window. Make managing the computer easier. Microsoft has started this with their new Microsoft Update, which patches the core windows system, along with any other Microsoft software that is installed. But Microsoft needs to take a bit of responsibility and check for other software that is installed and free updates that might be available for them. If Linux distributions can do this and provide this for free, why can’t Microsoft do this for an Operating System people pay hundreds of dollars for?
