[lconnell962]

Comment threads on the Closed Source OS topics like this regularly remind me about the large disconnect between skilled technical users and the "average" user. That average probably isn't your (great) grandparent who never learned how to type suddenly needing to learn the rapidly evolving early-days internet, but it's still just as dangerous to suggest "Use Linux" as the solution for everyone when plenty of "Average" users still don't know enough to be doing things safely in the console.

The "sudo rm -rf" and equivilant horror stories get told all too often as mistakes even made by "skilled users" who were in a hurry, and while that particular problem is becoming less common there is still a minefield out there. Wider use case where we need IT support is worse since there are plenty of Microsoft and Mac favoring restrictions and lockdowns required in the name of corporate level security requirements and certifications add to the mess and "security concerns" you can't get corporate to move away from.

I'm a daily Linux user who has had to put years of a software developer career's time into learning the easier system administration aspects and working with those who handle the harder issues, but doing this in my career I have had to step back every time someone comes to me with a problem. Once I understand the problem then go on to ask "at a guess, how much time will diagnosing this even take?" with the estimates varying based on how standard the OS install or deployment is.

Time and a relatively small amount of training is the problem with switching users from Windows to Mac or the reverse. Switching to Linux is training and introducing a technical mindset into a person. Idiot-proofing the system is a major issue Linux hasn't solved yet. VDI systems and the like might be a step in the right direction, but as soon as your use case for Linux requires a "average user" to open a terminal the problems will pile up and the minefield is exposed.

Years removed from using a Mac I still think of it as the most "child-proofed" OS. Windows being less restrictive but still doing a good-enough job of locking up the more dangerous things while also not drawing attention to them on a regular basis. Linux is like seeing the dangers left out in the open with few useful warning signs beyond some generic unspecified danger signs around the worksite.

[flomo]

imo, the 'grandparent' type user should really be on an ipad or chromebook etc. (unless they have some specific software needs). Too easy to get unwanted stuff running on windows and it needs admin.

[sznio]

My parents have Linux laptops. They don't know it's Linux. All they do is browse the web and open PDFs.

Ever since I installed Linux for them, I don't have to drive every month to fix their system because they installed some malware on accident.

[intrasight]

Us "grandparents" built and continue to maintain the tech stack we're all using. I think great-grandparents are the new grandparents.

[subscribed]

That amuses me every time I hear a snarky, dismissive comment from the tiktok scroller zoomer/alpha gen.

Twice amusing when they (usually) don't understand that the application they use has more moving parts than animated pictures on their phone.

[flomo]

Thanks for reminding us computers have been around for a long time, and even some of those 'great-grandparents' were the experts in their day

I'm speaking more about more about my family and my desire not do sysadmin work.

[zamalek]

I got an 80y/o a System76, for basic tasks. Knowledge transfer from Windows was relatively quick, a week at most (she was willing, which is not always the case). Maybe we'll see Linux support call scamming, but that's not the case right now - that advantage of Linux for old people cannot be understated.

Probably the same for an iPad or Chromebook.

[flomo]

You are the sysadmin for that machine. Just wait until an update borks or something. Maybe you are a hobbyist who likes fixing computers for free, so fine.

I have done zero technical support for my parent's ipads for like 15 years now. They even got it working with a printer without me. The biggest issue has been bogus emails from "Microsoft Tech Support" and "Norton Antivirus", so the Windows ecosystem still seems grim that way.

[lconnell962]

Windows has made improvements in that area in the last decade, but I don't disagree much. It could be the bias of having dealt with IT related issues for long enough, but I do think the "average" user might be regressing closer to that grandparent level as far as (needing, if not wanting to admit) that child-proofing the OS is needed. Chromebook and tablet PC stuff will probably continue to draw more entry level users in. As that marketshare grows we will have to wait and see how malicious programming evolves with it...

Same general guesswork, but everyone on here can make reasonably educated guesses at what the AI evolution process will do to the tech landscape. Nobody knows enough yet to have anything in cement, but it's out there, and the small changes of the last few years make it seem that we are going to regress rather than improve the level of technical knowlege needed to be "average" when working on a computer.

[Suppafly]

>imo, the 'grandparent' type user should really be on an ipad or chromebook etc. (unless they have some specific software needs).

There is always some app that every 'grandparent' type needs that only works on Windows.

[flomo]

Really? I'm pretty sure all the GreetingCardPro-type stuff is available on iPads, and its a better device for banking/investment stuff (because GreetingCardPro can't fuck with it). I was thinking more like QuickBooks or a custom business app.

[Suppafly]

Have you ever actually tried to support a grandparent type? It's always easy when you've never done it.

[flomo]

As I said in another post, yes. I also don't fix ppls computers "for fun".

[staticman2]

You seem to think grandparents too cognitively declined to use windows safely can be taught to use Chromebooks and IPADs instead.

What you are missing is it isn't always easy to teach a new operating system to someone with cognitive decline.

(And if we are picturing a grandparent without cognitive decline your suggestions makes even less sense.)

[hulitu]

> The "sudo rm -rf" and equivilant horror stories get told all too often as mistakes even made by "skilled users" who were in a hurry

There are ways to mess any system, when you are in a hurry. Think before you type/click.