Thank you, you just made my point. I shouldn't have to go to freshmeat.net. No normal user would know about freshmeat. Not to mention even if I did that automatically adds one step to the process when it could be integrated into the application.

I think part of the problem with Synaptic, apt-get, or "Add/Remove Software" features is that they generally treat all available applications as equal. I'm sorry, but not all IM clients are equal. Not all word processors are equal. Part of the benefit of Windows is the environment and mass amount of users have already determined the "best of breed" software. I want a Ubuntu "Add/Remove Software client" that is based on user reviews. Allow me to grab the best of breed when I want a text editor, IM client, FTP client, etc...