[bill_from_tampa]

I'm the same age as OP's mother (69, will be 70 in July) and I've been using linux on the desktop since 1997 (24 years ago). Windows 97/98 was so flaky and crash-prone that I did a search for some other OS for my Compaq desktop after being connected to a neighborhood cable modem from Roadrunner. I read about Unix and the commercial trademark fights, and then came across info on Linux on Yahoo. It seemed promising and I found a Red Hat boxed version in my local CompUSA in Florida - I used a different commercial boot-loader and kept windows and Red Hat on my computer - it was great! Linux (in 1997) was a bit clunky and stiff but it was reliable and programs could run overnight or for days and not crash - unlike my experience in Windows.

I've kept some version of Linux in a dual-boot configuration ever since (Red Hat, Suse, Mandrake, Ubuntu, Debian sid, and for 10 years Debian testing). I've never been able to find native Linux tax programs so have needed to boot into Windows each tax season - but this year I may use a cloud/online tax service, so after 24 years I may be able to nuke the windows partition and use it for additional ext4 storage. But I'll wait till after my taxes are filed this year to see how things go - I'm a bit conservative!

[seanw444]

Curious why you have still decided to go with a dual boot configuration for simple programs like tax software? Virtual machines are sufficiently effective nowadays.

The only reason I still have a dual boot is for video games now. But once I can afford a new graphics card, I'll keep my current one in the secondary PCIe slot, and pass it through to a virtual machine so it's basically native performance, and I will no longer dual boot.

[commoner]

TurboTax always worked perfectly in a Windows virtual machine. I used Microsoft's Internet Explorer VMs for this purpose, since they're free of charge. Microsoft currently offers downloads of Windows 7-10 VMs (intended for testing IE8-11 and Edge): https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/v...

I've since switched to the web-based FreeTaxUSA (https://www.freetaxusa.com), and the operating system became irrelevant.

[dep_b]

I worked on tech support back then and every time somebody had Windows 97 I knew it was going to be a tough call.

[behnamoh]

As if Linux problems were/are not tough to solve for average user. The difference is that most Linux users don't have the luxury of calling tech support to fix their issues, so they waste hours fixing something that shouldn't have existed in the first place. What would it be like to help someone update their Linux nvidia drivers over the phone...

[wtallis]

The point you have missed is that there was no Windows 97. Anyone claiming to be running Windows 97 was most likely getting confused between Windows and MS Office, which did have a 97 version.

[behnamoh]

You're right, I didn't notice that! The tech support comparison between Linux and Windows is still valid though.

[herbst]

You mean compared to the abondended threads on Apple forums with major issues that never even get looked at? Or like the Microsoft support site where you can expect nothing but a canned response that does not even begin to tackle you actual issue?

Linux has its problems, support is none of them.

[behnamoh]

I don't wanna start a flame war between Linux and non-Linux OSs, because Linux has already lost this war on the desktop front.

I've tried so much to make Linux suck less as a desktop OS, only to realize that it's all a waste of time. And for the ordinary person out there, firing up a terminal to do things is just not intuitive, and frankly, this cli thing belongs to the past when good gui and excellent monitors were not a thing.