Minecraft won't install

I tried to install minecraft on my computer, but it won't display on-screen. I went to https://www.minecraft.net/download and downloaded the jar file. I put the launcher on the desktop and tried to run it. It did not download minecraft. I can see the Java icon on the program bar, but it doesn't show on-screen.

Note: I have set the permissions to allow it to run as executable.

Another note: I have checked and it does create a .minecraft folder, but a lot of the minecraft files simply aren't there.

I found the solution. This isn't a problem with Ubuntu. It is a problem with Minecraft. This happens in Windows also. The latest launcher appears to be messed up.

The Solution: Provide your own ~/.minecraft folder. The latest Minecraft launcher doesn't create a complete ~/.minecraft folder. To fix it, you need to already have downloaded Minecraft before, and just copy the complete ~/.minecraft folder to replace the incomplete one.

Basically, the Minecraft launcher is, for some reason, unable to create a new ~/.minecraft folder (meaning that you have to provide your own).