Btw.
Here is some critique about application installation in linux
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2004Jul3.html

.edit
Oh dear looks like he had problems that I have not had for couple of years. Maybe something to do with 2004 year but who knows. 7-10 years ago I had similiar problems nowdays most of distroes go pretty well to my machines.