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Moms Go Linux, And Other Windependence Winners
An anonymous reader writes "There's an entertaining article over at DesktopLinux.com entitled "Why Aren't All Our Moms Running Linux?", one of the winners of their recent wIndependence Day essay contest. From the introduction: 'Why aren't all our moms running Linux? This is a serious question, so don't laugh. I used to get phone calls about once a week, on average; it's my mom, telling me that "my computer is running out of virtual memory" or "my email keeps beeping at me" or "I can't read this document" or (the best one) "my computer is *broken*." I knew that, at the time, she was of course not running Linux. Then, one day, listening to yet another complaint, it hit me. Why aren't all our moms running Linux on their computers?" Maybe it's the cuddly Penguin logo? ;-)" They're adding the winning entries to the site week by week - I wonder how many are from Slashdot readers.
it's a funny comment, but it's (sadly) damned true too. There are still quite a few apps out there that are not supported under Linux. So, until this changes, why doesn't my mom run linux is an argument that can't be won. And yes, I know, there are many different apps out there that will do what she wants, but it isn't the *One* (in this case Hoyle) that she wants.
Sent from your iPad.
As a Linux user wanting to spread The Word, I tried to get my parents interested in Linux and Open Source Software. I showed them Mandrake - all the cute little icons and the cool games and screensavers. Since they dont do much other than web-surfing (mainly reading email thru a web interface), it seemed like a natural choice.
Then, I made the mistake of showing my mother a Gentoo Linux install - a screenfull of bizzare and verbose gcc flags scrolling across a text console. She became frightened and intimidated. I tried to explain to her that all I did was type 2 words, "emerge gnome", and that it was nothing to be scared of - and I tried to explain the process. Now, shes afraid to try Linux - and everyone I try to recommend Linux to gets scared off by her proclamations of how "difficult" it is.
*sigh* Oh well.....who was it that said "GUIs are like diapers - everyone grows out of them eventually".
If she's running Windows {3.1, 95, 98, ME} then show her a DOS window or put her into dos by hitting F8 when it starts up.
Then show her Linux. Let her decide which is easier.
God save our Queen, and Heaven bless The Maple Leaf Forever!
would you prefer to have a two hour telephone support call from your mom, or a 10 minute SSH session to fix your mom's computer long distance. ask yourself that question before you ask yourself why your Mom is using Windows.
~ a low user id is no indication I have a clue what I'm talking about.
" Look, my mom has trouble with Excel. You think she'd be able to run Linux? You think she'd be able to build a kernel module? Even install an RPM package?"
:) Linux window managers should stop emulating MS Windows so damned much. I use the command line, and the computer semi-illiterate don't know how to use MS Windows anyway.
Right. So here's the deal. My parents have installed two software packages intentionally in the entire lifetime of their latest computer which runs Windows 98 or XP or 2K or what-fucking-ever (a couple years). Their installs were roughly as simple as Mozilla's Linux installer, interestingly enough. Any other software on the box either came there, or trojaned itself on (Gator et. al.).
They don't change their video resolution. They don't create new shortcuts. They fire up the box, click on one of about 5 icons, use the program, and close it. Sometimes they switch between programs. When they need to do something more difficult (send e-mail attachments, open an unrecognized file extension in a particular program, etc.), they ask me or someone else who knows more about computers.
So, if they were using Linux instead of Windows, and the two programs had installers as sophisticated as Mozilla's (a faulty assumption, so assume they just asked me to install 'em while I was in town), what would be the difference? The difference would be they wouldn't have Gator, and that's about it.
Is there a reason for them to switch to Linux, given they already have something that basically works? No. Would they get anything extra out of it? No. But Linux wouldn't be any more difficult for them than Windows already is.
Interestingly, though I meant for this argument to be pro-Linux, it looks a lot more pro-Mac.
My parents called me up a few months ago and asked me to find a new computer for them - their old Pentium 100 running Win95 finally died.
I told them that I could put together a system for them, but that it would not include Windows and they seemed to be open to that idea. Basically all they need to do is email, web surfing and some word processing so I figured that Linux was ready.
I put Lycoris on their new box and delivered it to them a month ago - so far it's working fine for them.
Now, of course they want to hook up their digital camera and an all-in-one scanner/printer, so there could be some challenges ahead.
However, if your computer-challenged parent just needs to connect to the net, send email, surf and do some simple word processing, I don't see why they can't use Linux at this point.
--don't panic
The original essay cited above ends with our protagonist having installed Debian for his Mom. I say, so what?
If you want some real insight into why Mom isn't using Linux, first of all he should have made Mom do the install. He says:
I felt like a chicken pecking my way through all the defaults until I finally had all the packages copied over (took about twenty minutes of installing to get to the point of a login prompt). A few more commands brought down security updates, the X Window System, as well as a few applications I knew my mom would need.
Twenty minutes? How long would it have taken Mom? Pecking chicken? How many of those "pecks" were to answer arcane config questions that Mom wouldn't know the answer to? Command prompt? Please.
This right here is the first reason Mom isn't using Linux.
And even granting him that Mom might be happy on the new OS, I need to hear about her experiences in the new environment to have any opinion. Did she get any strange error messages? What happens when her friends give her programs she can't use? Can she find online help written in plain language to solve her own problems? (even today, these are questions that should be asked of any OS.) For a pro-Mom-on-Linux article, so strange that it ended without Mom using Linux! I hope there's a follow-up I'm missing, because that would contain the real answers to the title's question.
"Luck is the residue of design" --Branch Rickey
So far I have read about 40 comments saying:
"My Mom *does* run linux....cause I set it up for her."
Exactly. She didn't do it, you did. And until that changes, the why doesn't my mom run linux argument won't change either.
remember, this is a tech site, so of course your mom might run linux, if she is tech savvy or has a son or daughter that is and sets it up for them. Can you say that the majority of moms out there have tech savvy children? Probably not, and 's the issue.
Sent from your iPad.
On another forum someone made a good point about finding edutainment for his preschool age children. I think it's both the greatest strength and weakness that Linux will always be strongest in the areas of interest to we developers. I know the idea of building the next big scrabble game appeals far less to me than the next big dungeon crawl.
My solution, get Tux his own sing along coding cd. From what I've seen of friends with kids, their offspring will have listened to the thing so many times the parents will be singing "a is for array", hacking the kernel, and writing scrabble games before we know it.
Everything will be taken away from you.
You assume that she would be using a computer at all if I hadn't set one up for her. She only uses it because I made it do exactly what she wants, and she has someone to complain to when it stops doing what she wants. If I'm the one setting it up anyway, why should I use anything else? I'm sure that goes for lots of people here.
I know plenty of families who also go out, buy a computer, and use it as an expensive paperweight, simply because they don't really know how to use it or make it work for them. If I set up Linux for these people, does it "not count" because they didn't set it up?
OK, first the issue was that I was tech-savvy, now the issue is that lots of people aren't?
In any case, people should be tech savvy. Hello, you're all living in a technological world, and it's just going to keep getting more technological (barring natural disaster or war). Ignorance is not OK, folks. Just because you don't know how do use a computer doesn't mean you can't learn. It especially does not mean that you shouldn't have to learn.
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
Did you check the link or just copy and paste?
I may be an idiot (which is quite possible) but the link you found in an amazing 0.22 second (God your mom must be proud) is tools to help someone play scrabble. My mother doesn't want to increase her ability to play scrabble. She wants to play it. She wants to double click on the icon that is on the desktop (it's on the desktop since it's on of the three items ever used) and play scrabble.
And the final note, whatever scrabble game you'd find for linux might the the most amazing thing in the world but it's missing one thing. It's not Hoyle. It doesn't matter.
Another note: Linux games often (there are quite a few exception) don't look as good as their Windows counter parts. Find me a Linux Risk game that looks as good as Hasbro's Risk II (http://pc.ign.com/previews/13205.html is a good review).
Think of it this way before getting your panties in a bunch -- someone may go into a car dealership and ask for a yellow honda civic, you being the prick you are tell them that statistically white cars get in fewer accidents (it's true btw). The customer would look at you, they don't give a fuck - they what a yellow car because it's cute - it looks good.
> But don`t blame Linux for your being too lazy .
I don't blame Linux, I use Linux myself. My father couldn't set it up though and even if he did he couldn't go into Future Shop and buy a decent card, board or word game for his Linux system. He doesn't spend hours on end on the internet. He uses as a tool, not as a replacement for the lack of girlfriend that so many people here do.
Yeah, I guess you could consider me lazy - I could just write the scrabble game myself but I do have better things to do with my time. I'm not sure if many people (like yourself) get one thing. Most people use a computer like a TV. They don't want to build it from the ground up, they don't want to be a leet h4x0r. They use it for e-mail, a couple simple games and likely shut it off when not in use (so uptime as a penis measuring contest is pointless). The rest of the time these people are doing other things...going out with friends (not to LAN parties), raising their kids, going to their jobs or possibly reading a good book.
Thanks for the comment though...
on iBooks and WLAN, no string attached, and the base station do ADSL to the ISP. Though sometimes apps do suddenly quit themselves, the iBooks were never rebooted (except during those upgrade moments).
:-(
:-))
The tech support issues with Windoze are too big a workload for me as a free consultant, Linux on the other hand is too user-unfriendly for a layman. I have tried to give them Gnome on Linux, but they did end up only able to use Netscape and not even a decent mail app with consistency UI is availbale, you could call them stupid but they are old! So Linux is out of the question.
Now they are happy to use the Macs and are able to use quite a few apps and even to produce their own travel documentaries on video (only that their iBooks can't burn DVDs
We are all impressed on what the Macs are capable to bring to these old folks when they hardly known what a CPU is and can't make sense of the difference between a harddisk and their favorite Pink Floyd CD (because I have the CD saved to MP3 on their hd, and that confused them so much
Not to mention I don't have to troubleshoot over the phone with a 90 years old fustrated woman.
Not that the Macs are perfect, there are still a lot of room to improve especially on speech recognition and user-friendliness, but current, if you need stability plus user-friendliness (perhaps also multilingual 'coz my dad and mom also use Chinese), Mac (OS X, NOT OS9! )is almost the only choice.
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Sic? What sic?
I'd say Linux is perfect for moms. Why?
./configure && make install.
/, but I doubt they will even try).
1. You can setup a Linux installation for them. They don't have to install it themselves. Remove all icons and put a few icons on the desktop/panel. That's all they'll use.
2. Moms and dads (and grandmothers) don't install software. They just use what's installed already. So they won't get in trouble with RPMs and
3. The permissions ensure that they can't mess with the system, so the computer will never break (unless they find out how to use the root password to get into a console and do rm -Rf
All the common "Linux is not ready for the desktop"-arguments do not apply here. Mom doesn't use the Control Panel, she doesn't care about the resolution, she doesn't install software, etc.
I put my parents behind Linux. All they do is browse the Internet anyway. So I made a password-less account for them and when they doubleclick on their icon in gdm, Galeon and sawfish launch automatically. If I put them in Windows, they will get confused by the start menu and the icons on the desktop and the tray.
Sad thing is, when your mom and sisters decide they want to do more with their computer than you have set up for them, you're going to get called again. They're not going to be able to go to the store and buy the progs or games they want.
I'm not shooting down what you said in your post. I'm just saying that there is a big limitation to that strategy that others should consider. Of course, I wish you luck.
In my experience the 'support' factor goes down when installing Linux for them. If she's used to Word, Excel, email and web browsing she'll do just fine with a modern Linux.
Set it up, tell her not to login as root, fix her up with a good desktop config for what she wants to do, and an easy way to restore the config to default, and she just cant mess it up (which is a factor that makes 'mom' types more comfortable with their computers, in my experience).
You'll probably get a few calls after powerdowns about fsck and such, but ext3 usually handles it without any manual recovery (and you could probably hack the initscripts to blaze through an fsck -y anyway).
For a novice desktop user there is no steep learning curve. It's not until you get to 'power-windows-user' that you get a more serious learning curve.
Never ever show Gentoo/Slackware/Debian to your family and tell them "That's Linux".
.deb files for download, but then you'll still be stuck with the dependancy problem.
From their point of view (it's very important to try to see things from their point of view), that 'Linux' thing is like Windows: one single thing, set in stone. It is not obvious to them that there as many kinds of Linux as there are types of needs to fulfill.
If you're gonna evangelize your family, FIRST tell them that your Linux is geeky because you wanted it so, but that if you were to install them a Linux of their own on their computer, you'd choose an easy-to-use version. Success stories with, say, Mandrake, abound: I switched my girlfriend from Windows to Mandrake and she's very happy with it.
Do NOT try to convince them to use your Slackware/Gentoo/Debian. You'll scare them off.
On the other hand, it can go a long way if you make them an account on your machine, add plenty of links on the desktop so that they never have so see a command-line, and then let them play around with KDE, PySol (a *great* solitaire game that many moms seem to love), Konqueror (or Mozilla, or Opera), Open Office, etc. It also helps to use the Redmond theme at the beginning, so that they feel 'at home'. Also be sure to tell them that the system is secure, and they CAN'T mess it up even if they tried to. You can even try to explain them the concept of privilege separation, if you feel able to put it in simple words.
It worked pretty fine for me. My family knows that 1) my computer is geeky because I wanted it so, but Linux is much more versatile than that; 2) The desktop (KDE) is pretty fine and sleek, and easy to use; and 3) There are lotsa nice apps.
Result: my dad is gonna get a new computer soon, and he told me he wants to remove the mandatory preinstalled XP, and put a 98 (that's what he's used to) AND a Linux.
This said, there's still a major usability issue with Linux, the way I see it: there's still no easy way to install new software. When my girlfriend wanted to install the Psi instant manager, I couldn't get her to install it herself. It was too complicated to hunt for the right lib RPMs and everything.
We must design a non-centralized, click-and-install way to package Linux software. And no, RPM doesn't cut it: if you try to install some stuff that wasn't packaged for your distro, or you don't have the right lib installed, or whatever, it'll often fail. Portage and apt-get don't cut it either: they're centralized things, and there's thus no easy way for the amateur software developper to, say, offer his software for download on his Web page. Well, you can put
I've started working on it, but it's an extremely tricky problem, because, due to the nature of Linux, we can make no assumption about what libs are installed. Anyone wants to contribute ideas?
-- B.
This sig does in fact not have the property it claims not to have.