I agree, in a sense. Windows has had mostly .exe (.msi) packaged installers that run their own install scripts to place files and modify the system to run the software. The software vendors all used the same format. Installing software was a practised exercise of double-clicking on a installer.exe file and then hitting next a bunch of times.
OSX (before the App Store model) had .dmg disk images and installer files, where you drop the entire application into a folder and that .app file contained everything the application needed to run. Easy enough to install applications.
But, what happened when you wanted to update a program or application? You went an manually downloaded the application or found the update button in the context menu and updated. This meant that many users would not update very often. Because the process was manual and because you were never sure what would work or when the new version would refuse to work with your hardware or OS version. Even with an app store, you still need to open the store app and click update or look through menus to find which software packages need updating.
For a long time, as both a Windows and OSX user, I saw the benefits of both approaches. Now, as a Linux user, I can update my entire system, with one bash alias I can update my chosen installed applications, but also my operating system files, and my flatpfak apps or containers and even my firmware (fwupd). It has changed the paradigm of computing for me. It makes me feel like a superhero. I don't have to worry about an update breaking my system. Better still, I don't have to manually update my operating system separately from each application I've chosen to install. I can do it all from the terminal and I can see all of the changes my system will make. It has been a great experience. Do things sometimes break? Yep. But, they broke on the other OS's too. I take it as a learning experience.
Maybe I've just talked myself into trying an immutable os.
OSX (before the App Store model) had .dmg disk images and installer files, where you drop the entire application into a folder and that .app file contained everything the application needed to run. Easy enough to install applications.
But, what happened when you wanted to update a program or application? You went an manually downloaded the application or found the update button in the context menu and updated. This meant that many users would not update very often. Because the process was manual and because you were never sure what would work or when the new version would refuse to work with your hardware or OS version. Even with an app store, you still need to open the store app and click update or look through menus to find which software packages need updating.
For a long time, as both a Windows and OSX user, I saw the benefits of both approaches. Now, as a Linux user, I can update my entire system, with one bash alias I can update my chosen installed applications, but also my operating system files, and my flatpfak apps or containers and even my firmware (fwupd). It has changed the paradigm of computing for me. It makes me feel like a superhero. I don't have to worry about an update breaking my system. Better still, I don't have to manually update my operating system separately from each application I've chosen to install. I can do it all from the terminal and I can see all of the changes my system will make. It has been a great experience. Do things sometimes break? Yep. But, they broke on the other OS's too. I take it as a learning experience.
Maybe I've just talked myself into trying an immutable os.