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Mom Meets Linux - A Lindows 4.0 Review

Posted by michael on from the any-key dept.

JimLynch writes "We just put up the first review of Lindows 4.0, with a twist. I actually gave it to my Mom to see if she could use it. Find out if Lindows 4.0 passed the "Mom Test.""

2 of 565 comments (clear)

  1. I agree generally, a few additions... by numbski · · Score: 5, Interesting

    While I'm a mac user now (was windows, then linux, then OS X) I'd like to see a few more things done to round it out:

    Easy VPN setup (mentioned in the article already, but very important..PPTP and IPSec)

    Start the user off as a user with sudo privelages, but not as root...touchy I know for user privs, and it starts off a whole load of but "it's not important" but "oh yes it is" all over the place. OSX manages it nicely, I see no reason why Linux can't do the same.

    Bundle an office client. It's KDE...KOffice isn't there by default? ???

    I think that's about it. Other than of course throwing in a dock and putty a happy mac face on it. :P

    --

    Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).

  2. If this guy's mom is like my mom... by foxtrot · · Score: 5, Interesting

    his patience is to be commended.

    My mom, about a decade ago, took a class on Word Perfect. She learned what all those F-keys do, which is really useful since nobody seems to use Word Perfect anymore Alas, she brought home one piece of information that is useful for pretty much anything having to do with computers, and only one such piece of information:

    "Read the whole screen".

    I never realized how much stuff I just scan through when I do something on a computer. Like, when you're installing something, it may note "This action will consume 100 megabytes of space on your hard disk drive and will take a few minutes. Continue? [Back] [OK]": My mother will specifically read the entire thing. She'll ponder on that hundred megabytes. She'll consider whether or not a storm is likely to show up in a few minutes. And as you know, no dialog box ever has that little text in it.

    I see "100 meg", "few minutes", instantly click [OK] and wander off for another Coke.

    My mother reads EULAs.

    I click [I Agree] while crossing my fingers with the other hand.

    And as such, it drives one or the other of us bonkers if I ever have to show Mom how to do something on the computer. Either she's frustrated 'cause she's not sure what's going on, even though I try to slow down, or I'm about to pull my hair out wondering why she just doesn't click something, ANYTHING, DAMMIT!!

    Ahem.

    Anyhow, whether or not Linux is ready for Mom, I'm not ready to try to teach Mom Linux.

    -JDF