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If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can (2012)

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Re: If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can (2012)

#41

Post by jordanpg »

mangecoeur wrote: post #26

I’ve seen this repeated and it’s just not true. Very non-expert users can use it just because its reasonably stable and they just don’t do that many things, as long as they have a working web browser they are fine (thats the premise of a chromebook). But anyone getting work done will quickly run into things they can’t do. I’ve come to think a better benchmark for linux having “got there” is, can i run an architects o…

Agree. This notion of hoards non-technical people using Linux is just plain silly.

Obviously this doesn't work the moment these "non-technical people" venture even slightly outside a narrowly defined box of use cases.

Re: If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can (2012)

#43

Post by squeaky-clean »

alexjplant wrote: post #19
acchow wrote: post #12

Your mother-in-law probably never uses bluetooth, video games, Adobe suite, etc.

> bluetooth Has Just Worked (tm) on Fedora and Mint with the past three Thinkpads I've had, even with AirPods. > video games From what I understand Valve's efforts on Proton enable a plurality of modern games to run on Linux to the point that their flagship Steam Deck ships with a Debian-derived distro. > Adobe suite, etc. Niche creative software like high-end photo editing and DAWs are, admittedly, not well-supporte…

I have a pair of Sony WH-1000XM4 and a Dell XPS with Ubuntu 22 that won't pair together. If I boot windows instead of Ubuntu it works.

Re: If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can (2012)

#44

Post by monsieurgaufre »

mangecoeur wrote: post #26

I’ve seen this repeated and it’s just not true. Very non-expert users can use it just because its reasonably stable and they just don’t do that many things, as long as they have a working web browser they are fine (thats the premise of a chromebook). But anyone getting work done will quickly run into things they can’t do. I’ve come to think a better benchmark for linux having “got there” is, can i run an architects o…

Your moving goalpost is a pretty specific. What makes architects that important to be the defining demographic for success? Surely not their numbers. Not even sure macOS could meet this requirement.

Re: If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can (2012)

#45

Post by mangecoeur »

monsieurgaufre wrote: post #44
mangecoeur wrote: post #26

I’ve seen this repeated and it’s just not true. Very non-expert users can use it just because its reasonably stable and they just don’t do that many things, as long as they have a working web browser they are fine (thats the premise of a chromebook). But anyone getting work done will quickly run into things they can’t do. I’ve come to think a better benchmark for linux having “got there” is, can i run an architects o…

Your moving goalpost is a pretty specific. What makes architects that important to be the defining demographic for success? Surely not their numbers. Not even sure macOS could meet this requirement.

two reasons: 1 is im very familiar with the field and 2 i think it’s both common enough not to be dismissible as a weird edge case (you’ll find at least one architect in most towns and the construction industry as a whole is massive) and demanding enough to set a meaningfully high bar for productivity.

But you could swap in many of other industries

Re: If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can (2012)

#46

Post by [deleted] »

gspencley wrote: post #28
acomjean wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Things running the browser makes Linux really practical for all my “office/outlook” tasks. The web as a stable platform seems to enable cross platform work. When I worked at a hpux shop we had to go to a separate machine use some Citrix thing to log onto windows NT to use internet explorer to do our time cards… we’ve come a long way. Libre office works quite well (especially for csvs) I’m on popos (Ubuntu varriant) a…

We can't know for sure, but I suspect this is the reason that Linux use has grown so much according to StatCounter over the past couple of years. I'm also starting to think that, for the very first time, Linux is now the "stable" option. Microsoft and Apple, being businesses, are constantly trend-chasing as the tech industry loves to do. I'm not averse to new features, but I want to be able to evaluate new things and…

[deleted]

Re: If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can (2012)

#47

Post by _fat_santa »

acomjean wrote: post #17
_fat_santa wrote: post #15

IMHO it's gotten even better since 2012. Back then you would still have issues with stuff like MS Office, video conferencing, etc. Nowdays with the push to SaaS apps, most of that stuff is online and works just fine with Linux. My company runs on MS stuff so we have Outlook, Teams, Office, etc. Back in 2012 I'm not sure I would have been able to use Linux at work because of this software but now I can run all of it i…

Things running the browser makes Linux really practical for all my “office/outlook” tasks. The web as a stable platform seems to enable cross platform work. When I worked at a hpux shop we had to go to a separate machine use some Citrix thing to log onto windows NT to use internet explorer to do our time cards… we’ve come a long way. Libre office works quite well (especially for csvs) I’m on popos (Ubuntu varriant) a…

> When I worked at a hpux shop we had to go to a separate machine use some Citrix thing to log onto windows NT to use internet explorer to do our time cards… we’ve come a long way.

Completely off topic but I'm working on a time tracking app now and these types of stories always give me a chuckle.

Re: If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can (2012)

#49

Post by k310 »

alexjplant wrote: post #19
acchow wrote: post #12

Your mother-in-law probably never uses bluetooth, video games, Adobe suite, etc.

> bluetooth Has Just Worked (tm) on Fedora and Mint with the past three Thinkpads I've had, even with AirPods. > video games From what I understand Valve's efforts on Proton enable a plurality of modern games to run on Linux to the point that their flagship Steam Deck ships with a Debian-derived distro. > Adobe suite, etc. Niche creative software like high-end photo editing and DAWs are, admittedly, not well-supporte…

You should have heard me last night yelling at a new mac and new phone within 3 feet of each other failing repeatedly to air drop. Sometimes it worked. Complete mystery.

Regardless, I do all the photo editing I need with medium-strength tools all free, and I have great Nikon gear. I don't have the time to spend hours on each photo. "Damn Good" doesn't need much work!

Browser and Libre Office work on Ubuntu for my former windows-shackled brother. Also Shotwell, IIRC. There was a computer "for seniors" once, and it had little more than browser and open office. Addressing the linked article, something that meets all your needs, and is relatively simple (who gets that nowadays?) is best.

I mostly use a mac. Been doing so since the Steves were working from Welch Road. Also linux (Solaris and SunOS when they paid me to) from time to time. I looked at my enormous collection of adapters, cards and cables, and at my age, (relative) simplicity is a good thing.

Re: If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can (2012)

#50

Post by sickofparadox »

eysgshsvsvsv wrote: post #5

Anyone can. But why waste your precious time looking at that Ugly UI in your limited life when you can use MaC OS.

KDE Plasma looks pretty great out of the box, and offers more gui based customization than Windows does nowadays.
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