Questions -- or just irritations?

[Evan Leibovitch]

Hello all,

I've been very comfortable with my migration from Mandriva to Kubuntu, 
and even wrote about the experience for Computing Canada magazine (which 
was later published online at 
http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/ComputerCanada/News.asp?id=41490 )

Still, months later I have some nagging issues related to a few things 
that Mandriva (or the RPM system) appeared to do better. Some may be 
quick fixes for which any answers would be appreciated; others may be 
suggestions that I ask the team to consider bringing within the 
development process.

1) Using the Kubuntu tools (adept and adept_updater),  I really like the 
automatic update reminder in the KDE panel; however I don't like  that 
the update software tell me _what_ needs to be updated but not why. Was 
it a critical bugfix, a security hole being patched, Ubuntu-izing a 
mainstream Debian package, or just a clean-up of some config files? When 
running Mandriva's package updating system, it would let me know _why_ 
an update was being recommended; it could even allow me to restrict my 
update searching to security patches or bugfixes. Given the recent 
kernel update, it would be nice if a one-liner description of the update 
would accompany the request for the update.

2) When doing an update on one system, clicking "apply updates" does 
everything. On another system, the GUI will freeze after the download 
but before completing the install. I need to go into "show details" and 
see that a text-mode script is showing me a list of bugs and asking me 
if I want to install anyway. I answer yes and the thing completes its run.
This process is REALLY bad for a number of reasons, especially 
non-intuitive  for newcomers:
  a) it switches from GUI to text-mode mode without warning
  b) furthermore, the switch is hidden; if you don't click "show 
details" it will sit there all day, with no indication of why
  c) if there are still known bugs in the update, why am I being asked 
to install this in the first place?
  d) if I answer 'no' is the whole multi-package update aborted?
  e) How severe are the bugs being reported to me?
  f) The bug reports and CUI yes/no prompts show up on one system but 
not another -- how did I accidentally turn the display on? How do I turn 
it off using the GUI?

3) I really wish some genuine effort went into the default menu design. 
Having submenus called "more applications" is IMO a tactic admission 
that the existing layout is far more haphazard than it ought to be. If 
you want to see a better example, just see how Mandriva handles its menu 
layout.

Anyway, any help on the above is appreciated. I want to see Ubuntu as 
good as it can be; while the above are not deal breakers I do see them 
as impediments to the system's ease-of-use claims.

- Evan