I assume this is just meant as an observation, not a criticism. I've certainly experienced this with some free software for various purposes, where you wade through 3000 forum posts to get it to run and someone chimes in, "oh, it only works if you install in in X directory...". Sure it sucked to read 3000 forum posts and google things for 2 hours, but, once it worked, it worked.
I don't know why this would be a "problem" though. This year I got a free snowblower. it had all the parts, but it didn't work. After much reading, disassembly, and other mess, I got it to work and now I have a snowblower.
To me, commercial software is often about ergonomics and immediacy - if I can pay to have it now, with no work, great. But, free software can be about capturing marginal value below the market clearing price. If I need to put in some time and effort but I don't need to spend any currency, then great! I've succeeded at getting a job done and exchanged time for cost. Seems reasonable, and it's nice to have the option. (obligatory hardware example: just look at youtube for the humongous number of things made with washing machine motors. Sure, they're inconvenient, but they are free and available. For a lot of people this trade is worth it.)
I don't know why this would be a "problem" though. This year I got a free snowblower. it had all the parts, but it didn't work. After much reading, disassembly, and other mess, I got it to work and now I have a snowblower.
To me, commercial software is often about ergonomics and immediacy - if I can pay to have it now, with no work, great. But, free software can be about capturing marginal value below the market clearing price. If I need to put in some time and effort but I don't need to spend any currency, then great! I've succeeded at getting a job done and exchanged time for cost. Seems reasonable, and it's nice to have the option. (obligatory hardware example: just look at youtube for the humongous number of things made with washing machine motors. Sure, they're inconvenient, but they are free and available. For a lot of people this trade is worth it.)