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Go tell that to my mother who's now in her 70s, who barely knows how to open her email (and thats assuming nothing out of the ordinary happens like her account

by Rury 3y ago

Go tell that to my mother who's now in her 70s, who barely knows how to open her email (and thats assuming nothing out of the ordinary happens like her account gets locked). Yeah, linux isn't for everybody... Understanding this, is why Apple grew to become one of the most valuable companies on the planet.

skydhash 3y ago
As someone who saws non-technical people learn quickly how to share apk because mobile data was too expensive, I will dare say that people are perfectly capable of running computers if they need to and are capable of learning. The issue is that most software don’t solve their users’ problems. They are more like a shifting sand of features that are poorly documented. And often deceptive. No wonder people don’t like using them. A typewriter don’t switch the placement of the keys while you’re using it. Apple solve the issue by making simple software and locking customization. What I’d advocate for is Stable Software. Something that can go years without breaking the usage contract with the user (vim, emacs, i3,…). Imagine going from Windows 98 to 7 with the start button and landing on Windows 8 start screen. Or stumbling on Office 2007 ribbon? Why should I take my precious time to relearn where everything is and how to do the same stuff again and again? At least the above examples was years in the making. But nowadays, things seems to changes monthly. Software can’t be trusted.
austin-cheney 3y ago
A minor correction. Apple grew the majority of its wealth from the iTunes Store with exclusive agreements with rights holders and then repeated that pattern of exclusivity with its App Store on iPhones. Everything else is less than 10% of their valuation.
- Rury 3y ago
  Only if you completely ignore the fact that Apple wouldn't have continued to exist, let alone the iTunes Store and the iPhone coming to exist, if it weren't for Steve Jobs saving the company in the 90s by prioritizing the customer experience above all else, and help making said products come to fruition in the first place. All of Apple's success stems from that. There would be no iTunes or iPhone customers to charge without, you know... iTunes or the iPhone, or if Apple had gone bankrupt. In other words, Apple would have never have grown to be so successful in the first place, if it never had made a good product in the first place. Steve Jobs himself was vocal about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGKsbt5wii0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGKsbt5wii0
red-iron-pine 3y ago
my grandma cannot deal with changes on her laptop. comcast pop-ups throw her for a loop, and she gets hustled by indian scam callers. so i gave her an ubuntu desktop, changed it up to be comfortable to her, and then setup some reverse DNS so I could troubleshoot for her if needed. no issues so far.
- Rury 3y ago
  Right, you did/do the work for her. That's why Apple grew to be successful, and Linux isn't for everybody.
meristohm 3y ago
The old folks at work just want to be able to click the browser icon, the email bookmark, the search button, and be able to print. One of two Windows 10 laptops in the office (the other three run LMDE) has some failing components and I have an LMDE laptop ready to replace it, with all the right buttons in the right places). The other one runs our accounting software, and I'm confident I can either make it work on Linux or migrate before Win10 is unsupported.

by Rury 3y ago

skydhash 3y ago

As someone who saws non-technical people learn quickly how to share apk because mobile data was too expensive, I will dare say that people are perfectly capable of running computers if they need to and are capable of learning. The issue is that most software don’t solve their users’ problems. They are more like a shifting sand of features that are poorly documented. And often deceptive. No wonder people don’t like using them. A typewriter don’t switch the placement of the keys while you’re using it. Apple solve the issue by making simple software and locking customization. What I’d advocate for is Stable Software. Something that can go years without breaking the usage contract with the user (vim, emacs, i3,…). Imagine going from Windows 98 to 7 with the start button and landing on Windows 8 start screen. Or stumbling on Office 2007 ribbon? Why should I take my precious time to relearn where everything is and how to do the same stuff again and again? At least the above examples was years in the making. But nowadays, things seems to changes monthly. Software can’t be trusted.

austin-cheney 3y ago

A minor correction. Apple grew the majority of its wealth from the iTunes Store with exclusive agreements with rights holders and then repeated that pattern of exclusivity with its App Store on iPhones. Everything else is less than 10% of their valuation.

Rury 3y ago
Only if you completely ignore the fact that Apple wouldn't have continued to exist, let alone the iTunes Store and the iPhone coming to exist, if it weren't for Steve Jobs saving the company in the 90s by prioritizing the customer experience above all else, and help making said products come to fruition in the first place. All of Apple's success stems from that. There would be no iTunes or iPhone customers to charge without, you know... iTunes or the iPhone, or if Apple had gone bankrupt. In other words, Apple would have never have grown to be so successful in the first place, if it never had made a good product in the first place. Steve Jobs himself was vocal about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGKsbt5wii0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGKsbt5wii0

red-iron-pine 3y ago

my grandma cannot deal with changes on her laptop. comcast pop-ups throw her for a loop, and she gets hustled by indian scam callers. so i gave her an ubuntu desktop, changed it up to be comfortable to her, and then setup some reverse DNS so I could troubleshoot for her if needed. no issues so far.

Rury 3y ago
Right, you did/do the work for her. That's why Apple grew to be successful, and Linux isn't for everybody.

meristohm 3y ago

The old folks at work just want to be able to click the browser icon, the email bookmark, the search button, and be able to print. One of two Windows 10 laptops in the office (the other three run LMDE) has some failing components and I have an LMDE laptop ready to replace it, with all the right buttons in the right places). The other one runs our accounting software, and I'm confident I can either make it work on Linux or migrate before Win10 is unsupported.