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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)

#31

Post by jakebasile »

I moved entirely to Linux (Ubuntu) for my personal desktop usage (almost entirely gaming) around the middle of last year[1], and it's been wonderful. This year I switched my wife's desktop gaming PC to Ubuntu as well and she's had very few problems with it as a very non-technical user. Sure I've had to help out a few times when things aren't where she expected them but it's definitely ready for prime time.

The year of the Linux desktop really is here. Anecdotally I know several other people who have moved or are strongly considering moving to Linux since they were mostly held back by lack of gaming compatibility which has been ~85-90% solved by Proton.

[1]: https://jakebasile.com/words/2023/12/31/my-year-of-the-linux...

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

#32

Post by kube-system »

tapoxi wrote: post #16

My wife bought one of these early 2010s netbooks running Ubuntu. She didn't know what it was or how it was different, but eventually she started asking me for support. "How can I use Office? Why can't I play this video? What's this error in the software upgrade screen?" Linux is fine for day-to-day use if you're already technical and can debug it when you inevitably hit a roadblock, or you have a family member who ca…

Yeah, Ubuntu is fine if someone is using a browser and that's about it. When they start interacting with other software or services that expect them to be on Windows/Mac, that's when the problems start.

For instance: your family member comes home from the store with a boxed copy of TurboTax expecting it to work on their computer.

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

#33

Post by matteoraso »

tapoxi wrote: post #16

My wife bought one of these early 2010s netbooks running Ubuntu. She didn't know what it was or how it was different, but eventually she started asking me for support. "How can I use Office? Why can't I play this video? What's this error in the software upgrade screen?" Linux is fine for day-to-day use if you're already technical and can debug it when you inevitably hit a roadblock, or you have a family member who ca…

>It is not a seamless experience for your average Mac or Windows user.

Maybe not in 2012, but Windows 11 is such a disaster that I firmly believe that Linux is now the user-friendly option between the two. The only problem is that on rare occasions, you do need to debug some very frustrating issues. It's a tradeoff between having an OS that works well 99% or an OS that's never quite right 100% of the time.

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

#34

Post by pdimitar »

throwaway71271 wrote: post #27
tapoxi wrote: post #16

My wife bought one of these early 2010s netbooks running Ubuntu. She didn't know what it was or how it was different, but eventually she started asking me for support. "How can I use Office? Why can't I play this video? What's this error in the software upgrade screen?" Linux is fine for day-to-day use if you're already technical and can debug it when you inevitably hit a roadblock, or you have a family member who ca…

Which ubuntu is that? I moved my gaming pc to ubuntu recently and everything has been amazing, even dist upgrade worked without bricking anything. My wife uses fedora on some super old alienware laptop from like 10 years ago and she is just fine with open office and etc, never had to give any support. Of course milage may vary, but my daughter is forced to use Windows from her school and I have to tell you I have to…

Well, part of what you said was probably not true back in 2012 (which is the date of the original article).

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

#35

Post by kube-system »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #3

Ken Thompson is 81, "old" people invented most of this stuff.

Most people's mother-in-laws are not Ken Thompson, though. During the vast majority of Thompson's career at Bell Labs, computers were specialist business tools that only trained people were allowed to use, not commodity devices that people had at home.

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

#36

Post by afavour »

tapoxi wrote: post #16

My wife bought one of these early 2010s netbooks running Ubuntu. She didn't know what it was or how it was different, but eventually she started asking me for support. "How can I use Office? Why can't I play this video? What's this error in the software upgrade screen?" Linux is fine for day-to-day use if you're already technical and can debug it when you inevitably hit a roadblock, or you have a family member who ca…

Yeah, IMO the biggest competition here is ChromeOS. My dad's old laptop was really starting to creak with whatever version of Windows it had and he said he was going to buy a new one. I suggested instead I do an experiment and install ChromeOS Flex on it. He's been over the moon with it since and after a few initial questions hasn't been confused by a single aspect of it.

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

#37

Post by alamortsubite »

kube-system wrote: post #32
tapoxi wrote: post #16

My wife bought one of these early 2010s netbooks running Ubuntu. She didn't know what it was or how it was different, but eventually she started asking me for support. "How can I use Office? Why can't I play this video? What's this error in the software upgrade screen?" Linux is fine for day-to-day use if you're already technical and can debug it when you inevitably hit a roadblock, or you have a family member who ca…

Yeah, Ubuntu is fine if someone is using a browser and that's about it. When they start interacting with other software or services that expect them to be on Windows/Mac, that's when the problems start. For instance: your family member comes home from the store with a boxed copy of TurboTax expecting it to work on their computer.

TIL you can still buy a desktop version of TurboTax.

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

#38

Post by pessimizer »

tapoxi wrote: post #16

My wife bought one of these early 2010s netbooks running Ubuntu. She didn't know what it was or how it was different, but eventually she started asking me for support. "How can I use Office? Why can't I play this video? What's this error in the software upgrade screen?" Linux is fine for day-to-day use if you're already technical and can debug it when you inevitably hit a roadblock, or you have a family member who ca…

> "How can I use Office? Why can't I play this video? What's this error in the software upgrade screen?"

"How can I use Office?" is an unavoidable question, but it's like asking how you can play Super Mario Brothers on a Sega Master System. You can't, here's the replacement. Same process you'd have to go through when switching to a Mac from Windows or Windows to a Mac for any number of pieces of software, and that doesn't mean that Windows and Mac aren't ready for consumers.

For the rest, in my experience I hear no fewer complaints for why Windows and Macs won't play videos or upgrade correctly, etc. than for Linux. For some reason people have lower expectations of these massive companies; maybe a humility based on their size and marketing.

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

#39

Post by throwaway71271 »

pdimitar wrote: post #34
throwaway71271 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which ubuntu is that? I moved my gaming pc to ubuntu recently and everything has been amazing, even dist upgrade worked without bricking anything. My wife uses fedora on some super old alienware laptop from like 10 years ago and she is just fine with open office and etc, never had to give any support. Of course milage may vary, but my daughter is forced to use Windows from her school and I have to tell you I have to…

Well, part of what you said was probably not true back in 2012 (which is the date of the original article).

:) none of it was true in 2012, the dark times of the linux desktop.. but I was replying to the gp not the article, and assumed they put recent ubuntu on the netbook
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