Current State of the Experiment

I've finally hit the uphill part of the learning curve on using Ubuntu. As an end user, someone who's interested in using a computer to get work done, I appreciate applications and interfaces that are at least somewhat intuitive. Installing programs on Ubuntu, I've discovered, is not always intuitive. Oh, sure, if you find something in the Ubuntu app store you want to install, it's very easy. Just click the program and have it install. Installing something you've downloaded elsewhere--not so much.

I found some pages that provided instructions on installing applications in Ubuntu, but, so far, none of the programs I "installed" are listed in the Applications menu. In some cases, the programs I've downloaded aren't even listed in Synaptic Package Manager.

I've read the documentation, and it all sounds very easy to do, but the information provided in the documentation is what happens when it works the way it's supposed to. In software quality assurance this is referred to as the "happy path." A software quality assurance analyst always has to ask the "what if" question. I don't see any what ifs covered in the documentation--especially for the former Windows user.

And I only ran into these complications because I was trying to fix some browser issues. I've been switching back and forth between Aurora and FireFox, but both exhibit similar problems on some web pages. I thought maybe if I installed SwiftFox or an newer version of FireFox, it might resolve some of the issues I've encountered. Unfortunately, I failed at every attempt to install programs I'd downloaded. I received a SUCCESS! message after installing SwiftFox, but it's nowhere to be found.

From the perspective of user friendliness, I'll have to give Ubuntu an average grade at this point--below average when I consider what I was able to accomplish in Vista last night. I needed an FTP program to upload some files to my personal web page. In less than a minute I was able to download and install the program and had my files uploaded. Oh, and I also decided to download a program from MSDN, burn the ISO to CD and install it. I didn't have ISO burning software installed, so I downloaded CD Burner XP as well as the program I needed. Within minutes I'd downloaded both programs, burned the ISO, got it installed and was up and running.

I didn't really think about that contrast in experiences until sometime later when it just hit me that in less than an hour in Windows I'd managed to download and install multiple programs, build a web page and upload the files. That's productivity. That's why I use a computer.

Sure, I know I've got some learning to do with Ubuntu and it will get easier. As it stands now, however, the edge goes to Vista in terms of user friendliness and productivity.