3 ms·

> For PC/Laptop OSes, you can use Linux How many people who had no relationship with a university have you gotten set up on Linux? There is a solid chunk of pe

> For PC/Laptop OSes, you can use Linux How many people who had no relationship with a university have you gotten set up on Linux? There is a solid chunk of people that just cannot afford the cost of running Linux once you take into account the risk of having to spend a bunch of time mucking about with your package manager or something else with a high cognitive cost. Granted, I switched from OSX to Ubuntu back in 2013.

Arizhel 10y ago
This is total BS. I've set up two friends with Linux Mint machines; one is elderly and the other middle-aged and not a techie at all. Both of them are quite happy with them because they never have any problems, and I almost never have to even answer any questions. I did give them each a 15-minute orientation course beforehand, but considering that KDE works a lot like Windows (before the whole Win8/Metro debacle), it wasn't hard for them to adapt. WhyTF would they need to "muck around with a package manager"? And how is that harder then messing around with Windows' total mess of "installers" which don't do proper package management at all? In fact, Linux package management is superbly easy: just open up the software center, search for whatever you want, select something, read the description, and click "install" and type in your password. How is that hard? It's sure a lot easier than looking for random software on random webpages and worrying about it having malware baked-in like most Windows software on places like download.com.
nine_k 10y ago
Mucking with software installation without a package manager may be even harder sometimes. A curated app store, akin to a Linux distro repository, is what's missing from Windows experience of many people. But if you want AAA games, Windows is usually the easiest, or the only, platform. :(

3 ms·

> For PC/Laptop OSes, you can use Linux How many people who had no relationship with a university have you gotten set up on Linux? There is a solid chunk of pe

by afarrell 10y ago

Arizhel 10y ago
This is total BS. I've set up two friends with Linux Mint machines; one is elderly and the other middle-aged and not a techie at all. Both of them are quite happy with them because they never have any problems, and I almost never have to even answer any questions. I did give them each a 15-minute orientation course beforehand, but considering that KDE works a lot like Windows (before the whole Win8/Metro debacle), it wasn't hard for them to adapt. WhyTF would they need to "muck around with a package manager"? And how is that harder then messing around with Windows' total mess of "installers" which don't do proper package management at all? In fact, Linux package management is superbly easy: just open up the software center, search for whatever you want, select something, read the description, and click "install" and type in your password. How is that hard? It's sure a lot easier than looking for random software on random webpages and worrying about it having malware baked-in like most Windows software on places like download.com.
nine_k 10y ago
Mucking with software installation without a package manager may be even harder sometimes. A curated app store, akin to a Linux distro repository, is what's missing from Windows experience of many people. But if you want AAA games, Windows is usually the easiest, or the only, platform. :(