As much as i love Ubuntu... This is so true.

Why should this be true? Every distribution has its packet manager, and all of them that I used did a very good job.
I haven't had the need to compile external packages by myself for years.

Only had to compile my software, but that's the same on any other OS.

If you encounter software that's not in the distribution package repository, blame the software manufacturer or the distribution maintainer to not support this distribution. That's not the OS's fault.

Sure but most devs assume you can compile their program and dont really offer linux binaries for their apps

At least I don't have to compile egg from source xD

./configure --with-cream --with-cherries --layered
make && sudo make install

@wextia nope, that hasn't been my experience at all ...

@wextia That has not happened to me for long time.

The only drawback is that there is no uniform package format so a software manufacturer has to build packages for several distributions, including dependency problems when special libraries are needed.
There are ideas for standardization of package formats, but this will obviously take some time. Maybe container (docker) can be a solution for that as well.

@andros705 Compiling is not an issue, linking makes most problems.
That's the drawback of the openness of Linux and the heavy use of libraries.

@wextia 1.) No, not all developers know how to compile something from source

2.) Not every Linux user is a programmer

Ah.. that exquisite prejudice that all Linux distributions are like Gentoo and that compiling software is genuinely hard. Love it.

Well, almost all of the programs an average person needs can be downloaded precompiled. But a developer should know how to compile a software himself in case the software he needs isn't available precompiled. Although, I get your point and it can be very annoying sometimes.

I once compiled something in my 7 years of Linux and that was for a study assignment...

@linuxxx I must be doing something wrong then cause I'm having to compile shit left and right