Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by rdtsc 5945 days ago
My mom is over 2000 miles away and she's had Ubuntu for over 3 years now. It has been really easy to administer and help her use it. Every time I visit I upgrade the version of Ubuntu and make sure that networking works reliably, after that anything can be done remotely.

She is quite comfortable with it. What was interesting is that this is the first computer she has really used. Most people I know started on Mac or Windows then saw Linux. She is the only person I know that started on Ubuntu.

For emergencies I keep extra boot-able OS partitions including the original Windows XP that came with the machine. When I show it to her she thinks Windows is not very easy to use and looks clunky. That always make me laugh.
1 comments
zaphar 5945 days ago
My kids have all grown up with linux and we homeschool. Their only windows experience has been seeing me run a VM occasionally. My wife is a converted linux user as well. She can't stand windows the few times she's had it on a laptop. I always got pestered until I installed ubuntu on it.

I sometimes wonder about all the Geeks and hackers out there running Linux/BSD whatever and their kids/wives. Is there a waiting boom of non-windows educated kids about to break on the scene?

link
wyclif 5944 days ago
Recently I took my Debian/Ubuntu Linux-only laptop to the Philippines to see in-laws on a vacation with my wife; she had never used Linux before. In SE Asia it's a WinXP world, almost everyone runs pirated copies so there's not much interest in FOSS or knowledge of Linux, OS X, or any alternate OS.

The first thing she said upon logging in to the guest acct was, "Linux is FUGLY!", but I think she's started liking the fact that it boots quickly and can do everything she needs with OpenOffice, evince, Skype, &c. While she is not particularly committed to FOSS, after this trip away from home without Win she has come to see the light. To ease the transition I installed Chrome, added all her contacts to Pidgin/Jabber (all her old friends from the Philippines use Yahoo! products) and I don't think she misses WinXPProSP3 at all.

link