Late to this thread
I think what the OP is getting at is that life aint easy with Linux. As an every day user I agree with him.
Todays example I was setting up a dev environment on Ubuntu... supposedly the best supported and widest array of software out there. However all I wanted was a java dev environment up, and quickly.
I had to set up a windows and a linux environment for testing. In windows installing JRE & JDK (netbeans 5) took less than 10 minutes and maybe a total of 10 clicks of a GUI explaining everything nicely to me, Mr Joe User. Downloaded and installed.... great I am off for a coffee.
Then I came to the ubuntu box. It should be easy right? Fire up synaptic, find JRE and Eclipse, tick the appropriate selections and wait. So far so good. Probably only took 10 minutes too. However on launching eclipse it can't find the path for JRE. OK.... check the bash and find everything is wrong. Paths are wrong, links to bizarre places and so I check to see if this is common. Turns out that the best way to install is to go find the right files manually on the Java & Eclipse websites and then set it all up manually. Taking another 15 or 20 minutes to uninstall the faulty JRE and Eclipse installations and then reinstall using a manual method found on the Ubuntu forums.
So the question is why are those things even in the damn repos if they are not installing in anything like a correct manner, why are they there if that's not the best way to set it up, and what would anyone new to Linux think of all this?? (answer is IT's CRAP!)
Linux fundamentalists can argue until they are blue in the face, but until Linux comes up with a universal installer, it can infuriate even a seasoned user and certainly turns off every single person I ever speak to about when discussing their experiences... its always something like this that sends them back to windows.