Linux package managers solved the problem long before Apple's App store.
Not to mention that each distribution has it's own package manager (or at least its own package servers) so the "market" is horribly fragmented.
That is the issue, and why Linux has not yet become a major force on the desktop. Too many times stuff will go wrong and it is down to a command line to fix it. Too much configuration exists within the command line there is no graphical user interface for it. There is no single Linux version, so stuff is stored all over the place. There is not a single package manager (Do I need the .deb, or the .rpm?).
This is what confuses users, and the choice paralyses them.
I am a geek, I absolutely love playing with different OS's and whatnot, but I am sick and tired of having to worry that updating is going to cause my OS to not boot (I'm looking at you Ubuntu and your nouveau graphics driver).
Linux package managers may have "solved" the problem, but that is not what you get points for. You get points for getting users to adopt it and use it. Apple gets an A in that category (App Store on Mac OS X and iOS is a success), Linux a D (Package managers are a success, but the user experience isn't).
You mean about installing applications right? Copy to /Applications or click "Buy" in App Store.
But if I give Systems Preferences to a "common" user instead of /etc, for the majority of users, in my experience, they feel the same bad user experience of a configuration utility, with a great number of concepts that they do not understand, at least it's prettier.
My mother still does not understands why she needs iTunes at all to upgrade her iPhone, and that after upgrading iTunes simply deletes the two applications that she does use, Apple insists she needs it.
This last case is anecdotal, but it shows that Apple also does have it's poor user experience with some of its decisions, the common user, contrary to the average Joe iPod user, does not understand why the hell iTunes is necessary if he doesn't listen to music.
> " Apple gets an A in that category (App Store on Mac OS X and iOS is a success), Linux a D (Package managers are a success, but the user experience isn't)."
I would completely agree with the idea if Apple pricing was not so elitist and if the majority of users that I know that have a Apple product was not a techie nerd at least (ie, he knows how to deal with the basics of a computer, whatever system he's using, can install a program if you provide instructions, he follows technology section of his favorite newspaper, etc.).
(To add a bit more detail: Package managers are awesome but not in any way easy to understand. They are more elegant than other methods of installing software but not easy.)