[BozeWolf]

This! Well... not this! Every time the (linux) desktop discussion comes up, at least a few geeks have this "linux+my mother" argument which should prove linux desktop is totally usable for everyone. Just wait until they discover "alternative program X" for "windows program X" is not the same as the program they saw at the computer of the neughbours mom. Or libre office fucks up the layout again.

Come on guys, why always the linux + mother argument. Do not do it. It is silly.

Besides that: most of the time you probably have to give support on apps they use instead of os related issues.

[mosselman]

So it is ok to generalize based on 0 cases that Linux will be too hard for older less tech-savvy people, but it is not ok to generalize based on 1-many successful cases that for some people it might work?

I agree that Linux might not be great for our parents. As for my own mother, I moved her to a Mac mini years ago and that has reduced my support time solely to explaining how specific websites work. She can do lots of things on her own now, like debugging the wifi (shitty telco router), she creates her own booklets for the classes she teaches, etc.

With windows she'd be stuck on non-task related issues 80% of the time, which made it impossible for her to learn how to use the computer at all.

[heartbreak]

Perhaps because my mother's use of a computer literally never ventures out of the web browser? A Chromebook would be great for her, but she does not have one. Instead she has a desktop that has been "linux + my mother" for 6 years.

[webmaven]

I generally nudge those folks toward the G Suite apps instead of a locally-installed office suite like LibreOffice.