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Show HN: Fun tool that cut my family and friends tech support time in half

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Re: Show HN: Fun tool that cut my family and friends tech support time in half

#81

Post by teekert »

chirau wrote: post #40

I can't believe that some people here think that it is better to move your relatives, who are scared/prone to malware but don't think to restart their computer first, to Linux. What a joke really. Linux is good and all, but come on people, among iOS, MacOS, Windows, Chrome and Linux, it's the least usable and least user friendly.

I really don't see the difference, all of them provide icons to click to open apps that look roughly the same. It's just what your family member is used to. Anyone who grew up in KDE will find the Windows/MacOS UI a pain. But the fact is, Linux runs on as cheap hardware as Windows while being less or as prone to viruses/trojans as MacOS, so maybe it's worth a bit of a learning curve. Especially when you just use a browser, Ubuntu provides you with a 5 years unchanging UI... Compare that to Windows and what people are apparently willing to accept.

Re: Show HN: Fun tool that cut my family and friends tech support time in half

#82

Post by [deleted] »

loeg wrote: post #56
dimino wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Available desktop environments for Linux are nowhere near ready for wide consumer use, and hardware support is abysmal compared to macOS and Windows. Linux is best for servers.

Linux hardware support is really good. Probably better than Windows and certainly better than macOS (which only has to support a very limited range of hardware).

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Fun tool that cut my family and friends tech support time in half

#83

Post by icebraining »

MichaelApproved wrote: post #75
minitech wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it the least user-friendly? In Ubuntu, for example, nothing in regular use seems particularly different. My grandma started using it as her first OS at 84, and she’s still doing fine.

I'm commuter savvy and tried to get HBO Now to play on Ubuntu. Searched Google and found many different commands to try and run but had no luck. How could something so simple be so difficult?

Yeah, how can HBO make something so simple (streaming videos over the web) so difficult? The answer is DRM, of course.

Re: Show HN: Fun tool that cut my family and friends tech support time in half

#84

Post by dimino »

loeg wrote: post #56
dimino wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Available desktop environments for Linux are nowhere near ready for wide consumer use, and hardware support is abysmal compared to macOS and Windows. Linux is best for servers.

Linux hardware support is really good. Probably better than Windows and certainly better than macOS (which only has to support a very limited range of hardware).

It absolutely is not. There are constant driver failures on any Linux desktop. Your claim is completely baseless.

You literally have to find a "linux compatible" laptop, or else you risk running into constant driver problems. Not so with Windows, at least, and macOS comes on its own hardware.

Re: Show HN: Fun tool that cut my family and friends tech support time in half

#85

Post by AnthonyMouse »

Taek wrote: post #66
loeg wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux hardware support is really good. Probably better than Windows and certainly better than macOS (which only has to support a very limited range of hardware).

I don't think you could call it better than Windows. A lot of wifi cards have issues, and my understanding is that printer support can be pretty bad too. If you are using a Linux machine I'd still recommend that you double check for driver support on any hardware you buy. You can expect it to be okay but you should still check. You generally don't need to check for Windows, you can just assume and you will be right e…

> I don't think you could call it better than Windows.

It depends on the hardware. There is a lot of hardware that is still supported by Linux but has no drivers for any current Windows versions, because OEMs have no incentive to retroactively create drivers for new Windows versions for last year's hardware.

Re: Show HN: Fun tool that cut my family and friends tech support time in half

#86

Post by Karlozkiller »

MichaelApproved wrote: post #75
minitech wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it the least user-friendly? In Ubuntu, for example, nothing in regular use seems particularly different. My grandma started using it as her first OS at 84, and she’s still doing fine.

I'm commuter savvy and tried to get HBO Now to play on Ubuntu. Searched Google and found many different commands to try and run but had no luck. How could something so simple be so difficult?

Because it's not so simple. I have no experienced with HBO Now but similar services. And typically they use DRM like Microsoft Silverlight or the like to prevent people from playing videos without proper access.

The reason why such things are harder to get to work in Linux sometimes is because such DRM-solutions are not always baked in or provided by the same providers as in windows, and might be proprietary.

Also companies like Netflix have been known to filter peoples useragent leading to the exclusion of Linux users. nowadays it's as easy as installing a Silverlight-alternative in your favourite browser or just running a chrome derived browser.

my main point being: it's not always Linux's fault that some things are hard.

Re: Show HN: Fun tool that cut my family and friends tech support time in half

#87

Post by jamiecurle »

sandebert wrote: post #58
chirau wrote: post #40

I can't believe that some people here think that it is better to move your relatives, who are scared/prone to malware but don't think to restart their computer first, to Linux. What a joke really. Linux is good and all, but come on people, among iOS, MacOS, Windows, Chrome and Linux, it's the least usable and least user friendly.

About eight years ago I reinstalled my mother's laptop with Ubuntu (was WinXP). It was a mess before and I typically spent most of my time at my mom's actually with her laptop, trying to get it to decent speed and uninstalling miscellaneous crapware. Since I installed Ubuntu on it I actually spend my time with her, not her computer. And she's happy about that, obviously, but also that her computer just works and she…

I am curious about this. From 2005-2008 my mother ran Ubuntu from an install that I set up and I have to say, it was delightful in terms of "very little IT support". The problem however was that she always seemed to feel like an outsider with her friends. Do you experience anything similar. Granted this timeframe was pre-smartphone and tablet, but I am curious none the less.

Re: Show HN: Fun tool that cut my family and friends tech support time in half

#88

Post by mettamage »

chirau wrote: post #40

I can't believe that some people here think that it is better to move your relatives, who are scared/prone to malware but don't think to restart their computer first, to Linux. What a joke really. Linux is good and all, but come on people, among iOS, MacOS, Windows, Chrome and Linux, it's the least usable and least user friendly.

My grandpa runs on Linux for 3 years. He understands how to open an email and how to send one, how to Google (mainly about cars) and how to send money. That's all he wants to know anyway.

He was scared about downloading viruses and all that, to which I told him: you don't need to worry about it.

He's also on a mac sometimes, I wouldn't let

Re: Show HN: Fun tool that cut my family and friends tech support time in half

#89

Post by ekianjo »

harryf wrote: post #61
sandebert wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About eight years ago I reinstalled my mother's laptop with Ubuntu (was WinXP). It was a mess before and I typically spent most of my time at my mom's actually with her laptop, trying to get it to decent speed and uninstalling miscellaneous crapware. Since I installed Ubuntu on it I actually spend my time with her, not her computer. And she's happy about that, obviously, but also that her computer just works and she…

Likewise moved my Mum to Ubuntu about 10 years ago and it dramatically improved our relationship. Hasn't all been easy e.g. photo management has been a moving target but largely it's "just worked" during that time.

Same here for photo management - there is still no perfect solution so far. What did you end up using ? I am using a combination of Rapid Photo Downloader + Shotwell - not great, but it kind of works.

Re: Show HN: Fun tool that cut my family and friends tech support time in half

#90

Post by ekianjo »

MichaelApproved wrote: post #75
minitech wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it the least user-friendly? In Ubuntu, for example, nothing in regular use seems particularly different. My grandma started using it as her first OS at 84, and she’s still doing fine.

I'm commuter savvy and tried to get HBO Now to play on Ubuntu. Searched Google and found many different commands to try and run but had no luck. How could something so simple be so difficult?

The problem is DRM - it has nothing to do with Linux.
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