5 ms·

> less well for people who aren't and don't This is patently and blatantly not true. I have installed Ubuntu to my mom and my wife's parents, and they are happ

> less well for people who aren't and don't This is patently and blatantly not true. I have installed Ubuntu to my mom and my wife's parents, and they are happily browsing internet ever after, without any malware or crapware. In the past few years I have spent ~0 hours on maintenance of these devices. Previously, when they were using Windows, it was a never-ending nightmare. You see, a well set up Ubuntu is perfect for people who need the computer to just work. They just can't break it!

bee_rider 5y ago
Huh, last time I tried to help someone switch, they didn't really like it -- but that was a couple years ago (It was a switch to Mint, and it was long enough ago that this was probably the best pick).
- Andrew_nenakhov 5y ago
  What's not to like, if Firefox and Skype are the only apps they are using?
  - bee_rider 5y ago
    The obstacle that wasn't overcome in this case was the lack of MS Office and the unfamiliarity of Open/Libre Office, if I remember correctly. Personally I can't stand office suites, so I don't really see how this could be such a big deal, but "actually this kind of software is just destined to suck" is not very compelling.
- rglullis 5y ago
  "Not liking" != "Not working", especially when the user being introduced to a new system is expecting things to "just work like they use to" My wife had an older laptop, which had a failing hdd and I used the opportunity to swap for a SSD and asked her to try Ubuntu. Yeah, she had a lot of questions at first, but eventually she got used to it. She got a new laptop and had to go back to Windows due to her work, but whenever she is just browsing or videocalling anyone, she doesn't mind using the older laptop. Also, guess which laptop always has issues with the printer?
  - Beltalowda 5y ago
    > Also, guess which laptop always has issues with the printer? In my experience any laptop on any system will have issues with the goddamn fucking printer :-) I had an old dot-matrix printer connected to the parallel port for a very long time. Could "print" with just "cat file.txt >/dev/lpt0". It was great. Downside was I couldn't use it in the evening as it woke up the neighbours.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
gramie 5y ago
My parents are in their 90s and have been using Linux Mint since I replaced their previous desktop about five years ago. Only for email and web browsing, and a little writing (Libre Office), but they have had few complaints. (I have had a huge amount of trouble getting newer kernels to use a USB wi-fi dongle, though. That's ridiculous.)

bee_rider 5y ago

Huh, last time I tried to help someone switch, they didn't really like it -- but that was a couple years ago (It was a switch to Mint, and it was long enough ago that this was probably the best pick).

Andrew_nenakhov 5y ago
What's not to like, if Firefox and Skype are the only apps they are using?
- bee_rider 5y ago
  The obstacle that wasn't overcome in this case was the lack of MS Office and the unfamiliarity of Open/Libre Office, if I remember correctly. Personally I can't stand office suites, so I don't really see how this could be such a big deal, but "actually this kind of software is just destined to suck" is not very compelling.
rglullis 5y ago
"Not liking" != "Not working", especially when the user being introduced to a new system is expecting things to "just work like they use to" My wife had an older laptop, which had a failing hdd and I used the opportunity to swap for a SSD and asked her to try Ubuntu. Yeah, she had a lot of questions at first, but eventually she got used to it. She got a new laptop and had to go back to Windows due to her work, but whenever she is just browsing or videocalling anyone, she doesn't mind using the older laptop. Also, guess which laptop always has issues with the printer?
- Beltalowda 5y ago
  > Also, guess which laptop always has issues with the printer? In my experience any laptop on any system will have issues with the goddamn fucking printer :-) I had an old dot-matrix printer connected to the parallel port for a very long time. Could "print" with just "cat file.txt >/dev/lpt0". It was great. Downside was I couldn't use it in the evening as it woke up the neighbours.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

gramie 5y ago

My parents are in their 90s and have been using Linux Mint since I replaced their previous desktop about five years ago. Only for email and web browsing, and a little writing (Libre Office), but they have had few complaints. (I have had a huge amount of trouble getting newer kernels to use a USB wi-fi dongle, though. That's ridiculous.)