The thing that opens by double-clicking on a .deb file never works

[teo1978]

I downloaded a .deb file. It was Virtual Box, but that is not relevant, nor is whether there was something wrong with that .deb file or whether my system was properly set up to be ready to install that package or not.

I double-clicked on the .deb file from within a folder in Nautilus, and a program opened that if I'm not mistaken is called Ubuntu Software Center, or something like that.

That showed a list with only one item that corresponded to the file I had opened: Virtual Box Whatever, with a title and a description of the package, and there was an "Install" button.

I clicked the Install button.

Expected: either install the package succesfully, or give me an error message telling me exactly why you can't install it. These are the two only possible expected outcomes; no other outcome is acceptable.

Observed:

First, when I clicked on Install, something showed up for a very brief time; maybe a progress bar or something.

Then that went away, and the Install button was visible again.

This already makes no sense. I clicked install, so either you are able to install or you are not. If you are not, you should be showing me an error message, and the Install button should no longer be called "Install" but either not be there or be called "try again" (unless if you first show me an error message and I dismiss it, then we may be back to square one).
If you are able to install, then you should be installing it, and if you are, I should be seeing an indication of the status and progress of the installation.

So either the installation silently failed and no error message was shown, which is not acceptable, or the installation was ongoing somewhere in the background, or being prepared for, and there was no indication of it.

Then I clicked "Install" again.

This time, an icon appeared in the Launcher with something that looked like an empty or almost empty progress bar (i.e. a progress bar at its very beginning).

When a new icon shows up in the Launcher, a new window should ALWAYS be open. The very thing an icon in the Launcher represents is a window.
But no. No window or popup showed up when the Launcher icon showed up, and clicking on it did nothing. By right-clicking on it there was no "quit" option either.

So the launcher icon was probably some process that wasn't responding. First: if you launched a process that is not responding, something is broken. Secondly, you should detect it, show an error message, and allow me to take action. You don't just leave me with a stuck hung process and a Launcher icon that doesn't even allow me to figure out what the hung process is and to abort it.

This is not the first time this happens to me. It has happened almost every time I've ever tried to install a .deb file by double-clicking on it (which is not something I do often).

It doesn't matter whether the .deb file I'm trying to install is broken, or cannot be installed for any valid reason: if that is the case you tell me what that fucking reason it and show me an error message, with all the details and the options.

NOTE: after all this, I restarted my system, and then I went to the folder containing the .deb file and ran:
  sudo apt install ./that_file.deb

and that installed Virtual Box succesfully and seamlessly.

All I was expecting the Ubuntu Software Center (or whatever that thing is called) to do by double clicking on the .deb file was the same thing I did by running that command from the terminal. The only reason I didn't do it from the terminal was to not have to google what the command was.
That's why you are allowed to double-click on things, so the system takes care to do whatever it needs to be done for you.

It's pathetic that by double clicking on a .deb file the system isn't able to install a package that I can seamlessly install with a one-line command that required no interaction (besides one single prompt "are you sure Y/N") and had no error.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: ubuntu-software 3.20.5-0ubuntu0.16.04.13
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-184.214-generic 4.4.223
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-184-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_uvm nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.23
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Sun Jul 5 17:26:39 2020
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-10-11 (2458 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Release amd64 (20130424)
SourcePackage: gnome-software
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.