(05-20-2017, 04:39 AM)Helios Wrote: What the hell? How else would you download software? mail the software writer a flash drive for them to copy their program on to? Also, anybody can host their own repository. Tons of software do this. Enterprise does it as well to keep internal software controlled.
That's because it's all standardized. If you need software installed to a different disk, mount that disk on /usr or something. The point of that is so that software devs can have a reliable place to put files that is the same everywhere. Useful if software interacts with each other. And in any case, flatpak solves users wanting to choose directories anyways, for better or worse. There is nothing actually stopping you from mounting these standardized directories to different places, and is recommended to do so if you so require.
This is actually a valid point, probably the only valid point in your post. It's why non-rolling release distros exist.
Pardon me if I don't believe you.
I don't think you've quite understood what I meant so I'll try rewording it.
I like to download software from a website and then install it from my hard drive rather then installing it directly from a server. This gives you a margin of control which is why I made the compassion to DRM. While it is, possible to install software from a hard drive in Linux I find it a tedious process.
As for downloading software from the internet I probably should've used the word author instead of host. I've never gotten a virus through downloading from websites such as videolan.org 7-zip.org audacityteam.org If I see something I like from cnet I try to find the author's site. It really has been a long time since I got malware though.
those are the reasons why I don't like Linux. In the meantime I'll stick with Windows until something I like more comes out. This is just my opinion though, never been a fan of app stores in general. I like to have a personal collection of software on my hard drive.
(05-20-2017, 05:06 AM)leolam Wrote: This is the first time I've seen someone actually defend the Windows way of handling software.
What's more, most package managers don't even need any connectivity and can perfectly handle offline, local repositories...
I just prefer it. I delved into creating local repositories, but I found it to be a pain to deal with so I rather wouldn't. You said this is the first time you've heard someone defend Windows way of handling software; There's a few posts on this forums recommending Windows but you sure won't see anyone defending it on the Linux forums. I also think most Windows users also prefer websites over repositories since the Windows app store has received nothing but scorn.