It seems that Canonical has decided to remove the Synaptic Package Manager from Oneiric Ocelot.
Some commentators aren't surprised by this move, but I must confess that I'm not too sure that I'm comfortable with the direction that the Ubuntu OS is heading. De-skilling is often confused with innovation and this move strikes me as little more than a blatant attempt to dumb-down the OS in order to attract Windows users. Of course, building a loyal following is not a bad thing, but one of the most appealing aspects of Linux distros is their tweakability - the recent introduction of Unity and the proposed removal of Synaptic restrict the ability to configure the user interface.
By all accounts, you will still be able to install Synaptic using the Ubuntu Software Centre or the command line (after all, Synaptic is only really a GUI for apt) so perhaps we haven't seen the swansong of Synaptic just yet.
Sources & References:
- Launchpad: Ubuntu Meta 1.231 source package in Ubuntu
- OMG!Ubuntu! Synaptic Package Manager Dropped From Ubuntu 11.10
- Nongnu.org Synaptic
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