Why is installing VMTools in Linux such a pain?

Installing VMTools into Windows is easy, while installing them in Linux is a major pain. You have to be a Linux Administator to understand the stupid directions. Couldn't VMWare of come up with a better solution?

As root (su -), mount the VMware Tools virtual CD-ROM image, change to a working directory (for example, /tmp), uncompress the installer, then unmount the CD-ROM image.
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
cd /tmp
Note: You do not use an actual CD-ROM to install VMware Tools, nor do you need to download the CD-ROM image or burn a physical CD-ROM of this image file. The VMware Workstation application includes an ISO image that looks like a CD-ROM to your guest operating system. This image contains all the files needed to install VMware Tools in your guest operating system.
Note: If you have a previous installation, delete the previous vmware-distrib directory before installing. The default location of this directory is /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib
Some Linux distributions use different device names or organize the /dev directory differently. If your CD-ROM drive is not /dev/cdrom or if the mount point for a CD-ROM is not /mnt/cdrom, you must modify the following commands to reflect the conventions used by your distribution.
You can continue with a .tar installer or an RPM installer:
# Using the .tar installer:
tar zxf /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools-5.0.0-.tar.gz
umount /dev/cdrom
Continue with step 4.
# Using the RPM installer:
rpm -Uhv /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools-5.0.0-.i386.rpm
umount /dev/cdrom
Where is the build/revision number of the VMware Workstation release.
Note: If you attempt to install a tar installation over an rpm installation—or the reverse—the installer detects the previous installation and must convert the installer database format before continuing.
4. Run the VMware Tools installer:
# Using the .tar VMware tools installer
cd vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-install.pl
Respond to the questions the installer displays on the screen. Press Enter to accept the default value.
Note: Be sure to respond yes when the installer offers to run the configuration program.
Continue with step 5.
# Using the RPM VMware tools installer:
vmware-config-tools.pl
Respond to the questions the installer displays on the screen. Press Enter to accept the default value.
Note: Be sure to respond yes when the installer offers to run the configuration program.
5. Log out of the root account.
exit
6. Start X and your graphical environment.
7. In an X terminal, launch the VMware Tools background application.
vmware-toolbox &
Note: You may run VMware Tools as root or as a normal user. To shrink virtual disks, you must run VMware Tools as root (su -).

For someone not familiar with Linux these instructions are just giberish.