[packagekit] package concept

[Denis Washington]

Hi,

The first thing I'd like to say is that I think your project rocks! The
posssibility of distro-independent packaging front-ends and installation
hooks will help to make package management even cooler than today.
Thanks for that. :)

However, I have a question about the terminology of PackageKit. Software
is often referred to as "packages" in the front-ends; this makes sense,
as mapping to the package-based backends is very straight-forward that
way. But don't you think that this term is a bit technical for the
average joe user? He or she might think in terms of applications, but
certainly not packages.

Some other front-ends handle things differently. Ubuntu's "Add/Remove
Applications" application, for instance, only shows nicely labeled
applications, not packages in the low-level sense with cryptic-looking
package names (e.g. rather "KPowerSave" than
"kpowersave-0.7.3-0.2svn20070828.fc8"). This is much better suited for a
casual computer user. It would be great if something similair would be
possible with PackageKit, provided the backends are able to provide the
needed information.

I'm not saying that the "package" term should be abadoned altogether;
the concept makes much sense for power users, which don't only want to
install applications, but maybe also libraries, development files etc.
However, I think it would be cool if the organisation of software into
packages could remain hidden to the average Joe.

What do you think?

Regards,
Denis