[UFO Chicago] Even In The Future, Nothing Works

[Brian Sobolak]

On Tue, May 10, 2016 6:35 pm, Jay F. Shachter wrote:
>
> Friends,
>
> After working on it for more than a week, I finally finished building
> LibreOffice 5.1.2.2.0.  I write for two reasons.  One is to crow that
> I succeeded in completing this complex and difficult build.  The other
> is to complain that the build was complex and difficult.  We have had
> higher-level programming languages now for more than 60 years.  Why is
> it still the case that building any nontrivial program never works
> right the first time?  Why is software installation a job that
> requires skill and intelligence?  Why can't I just build the bloody
> thing by typing "build" or words to that effect?


As much as you are now frustrated, some of you must enjoy these types of
problems as you consistently encounter them.  I'm not sure which factor
you mention creates it -- which distro you use, the complexity of
LibreOffice, etc.

Admittedly, when you purchase a commercial package, the tendency to just
"double click it" and go makes this issue go away.  The Apple products
aren't expensive, but the hardware to run them often is.

I think languages have advanced a little, but much of software
installation is still done via "make" and its ilk.  There may be many new
package managers, but it appears to simply re-write things that have been
solved before.

Much seems to be migrating online. While you may have ToS concerns, this
seems to be the way things are headed.

brian



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