A recent visitor to this site posted an article on his own blog criticizing my suggestion that it might be easier to find and install an application on Linux than OS X, and that Apple will likely build an App Store into OS X after their success with the store on the iPhone. I feel the need to respond to that reader’s comments.
In terms of the actual installation, if you already have the app in your possession (i.e., you’ve got a CD in hand or you’ve downloaded it off the web), then the critic may be right… it all depends on whether the Mac app in question is a “drag install” (which most are) or whether it has an actual “installer” (which is less common on OS X)… and what form the distribution of the Linux app happens to take. If the Mac app is a drag install and the Linux app is only distributed as source code, then the critic is absolutely right, hands down, and I don’t argue with him. But if we’re talking about the entire process from determining you need an application to the point of launching that application for the first time, I would argue that (on Ubuntu at least) it’s easier than on OS X in many cases to install a Linux application.
Let’s take the perspective of a prospective “switcher” from Windows (or Mac for that matter) to the Ubuntu distribution. Let’s say that our hypothetical switcher wants to use a drawing program but doesn’t know what’s available for the platform they’re using now. Starting from their newly-acquired computer’s desktop, what’s the process like on Ubuntu (the distro I happen to be most familiar with)?
First, the user might look under the Application menu to see what’s already there. Let’s assume our user has done that and hasn’t found something they like. (Note that by default, OpenOffice’s Draw program appears in the Ubuntu app menu. If the user liked that, they’d be done already.)
The user sees the “Add/Remove…” option and decides to look there to see if they might be able to find the application they’re looking for:
Ubuntu brings up the Add/Remove Programs application for the user:
The user could browse down to the graphics section to look at what’s available, but let’s say they want to do a search instead. They’re looking for a drawing program, so they search on the word “drawing”:
Note that the user has a number of application options available at this point. The applications already installed on the system appear with checkboxes next to their names, telling the user that they’re already installed. In this example, let’s assume the user likes the sound of the “Inkscape” drawing tool. They checkmark its name.
The user clicks “Apply” and Ubuntu confirms their selection(s):
At this point, Ubuntu begins downloading the application, any libraries or other packages on which Inkscape is dependent, and installs it all without further interaction with the user. When it’s finished, it lets the user know:
The user can close out of Add/Remove programs by clicking the Close button or install additional software by clicking the “Add/Remove More Applications” button. Assume the user clicks “Close” and goes back to the Applications menu.
The user clicks on Inkscape and about a second or so later, there it is:
That’s all it took for our hypothetical switcher to Ubuntu to find a drawing program, install it, and launch it.
- A search of the Applications menu doesn’t reveal a suitable application.
- The Add/Remove applications menu option is selected.
- The user searches for a suitable application and selects it.
- The application is downloaded and installed automatically.
- The user navigates into the Applications menu and locates the software, perhaps adding it to the task tray or a Dock-like applet.
- The user launches the application and begins drawing.
that the user is looking for Inkscape, but “a drawing program”).