No matter what packaging system you use, you can still run into problems of incompatible versioning. This program needs version4, that program needs version5, and you can't have both. I admit that it looks frustrating to someone who is just on this Linux ride to try it out, but for the diehards, it's like a challenge, and there are some creative-ass solutions to these kinds of issues out there.
I complain every once in awhile about 9 hour Google bughunts and rpm searches, but in reality, I love that stuff - it makes me happy. It's why computers are so fun and engaging - they can take every synapse in your brain and put it to work on solving what sounds like the most trivial of problems. You forget to smoke, eat, drink, sleep, screw, etc, because you are so into it. Like crack, but only costs like $1000 per year.