Actually its funny that you ask that because I just recently moved one of my younger brothers to Ubuntu from Windows XP. (Background: I'm 20, live out of the house, work as a DBA -- formerly IT, my younger brother Sam is 15 and my younger brother Bill is 17). Both of them were having troubles with there computers. Basically every few months they would get so clogged up with malware that they were almost impossible to use. Sam's was the one to go out first. I got tired of reinstalling windows over and over so finally I suggested linux. He was a little iffy about it because of my previous attempts to get them on it (read: older versions of linux, not quite user friendly enough). I figured since I run Ubuntu myself it would be easy for me to help troubleshoot any problems, and besides I know how user friendly it can be for a newbie if they have an experienced person to help set it up perfect for them from the get go and to help with the little linux hiccups that can occur.
First what I did was ask him exactly what he used his computer for so I could make sure he could still do all of those things. His answers: AIM, watching dumb videos on the internet, music especially ipod functionality, and writing papers for school. So I set him up with Ubuntu Dapper (edgy wasn't out yet) and set up all of the w32codecs for him for his videos (he has no problems watching embedded WMV, MPG, flash movies, etc), firefox was preinstalled, gaim was preinstalled, OpenOffice was preinstalled, and I set him up with Listen, beep media player, and gtkpod for now (im working on finding the best ipod solution for him). Then I set up his printer and got him connected to the file share on Bill's computer. All done. So for him it was fairly easy because he doesnt do much and Linux's multimedia capabilities have improved dramatically over the past.
After I had it all set up I let him use it for a week and had him tell me any issues he came across: videos that wouldnt play, program errors, that kind of thing. He had a few issues but I quickly resolved those. After that I showed him a video of Compiz in action and he was floored. I set that up for him and after that he was loving Ubuntu. Now he's been on it for a few months and is starting to realize that he has less issues on Linux than he did on Windows and that his system hasnt gotten any slower over time as windows always did.
Now that he is happy with it and Bill's computer is basically unusable right now, he has no problem with me installing it on his computer. And in this case they both have exactly the same computer so maintenance will be easy. Score 2 for Linux.
But basically the most important point I find is that as long as you first find out what they use their computer for and you know Linux will do that for them, then just set it up nice for them from the get go and be around to help a little when they need it and they will be happy. If they use things that are a pain to do in linux (lots of games, photoshop, etc.) don't try. It will be more hassle then it is worth and it will turn them off to Linux in the future. Anyway, good luck with your conversion!
Hell ya on reburning all your DVDs. I absolutely HATE the prohibited user actions. Its a friggin dvd dammit. I should be able to hit menu at anytime and go right to the menu. I don't need to see the stupid FBI warning EVERY TIME I WATCH IT. I know they're gonna fine me $10,000 and stick me in jail for 5 years if I so much as think about pirating it. I DON'T CARE! That is the main reason I prefer burned dvds. That and turning off macrovision. It's so stupid that I can't hook my dvd player up to a friends vcr inputs to get it into the TV. A lot of people don't have extra inputs on their tv and the only way they hook stuff up (such as consoles, etc.) is via the ports on the VCR. Completely retarded. It never ceases to amaze me how these guys just dont get it.
HILLARIOUS!!! Considering that all Microsoft employees are running admin while on their own MSDN they have one of their microsoft security engineering guys says:
"I've said this many times, but I'll say it again, 'Running with an administrative account is dangerous to the health of your computer and your data.' So, whenever someone says they must operate their computers as administrators, I always try to persuade them it's not the correct thing to do from a security perspective."
The biggest thing that non-tech people seem to miss when they use this argument is that no matter what you sign up for (any service that keeps your credit card records) there is a chance of that company getting hacked and your records getting out.
Just look at all the recent stories of millions of credit card numbers getting leaked from major corporations. You don't have to even be on the internet. If you signed up on the phone or whatever then it can still be stolen. In fact I think that any persons individual info is more likely to be stolen that way than by the usual argument of someone "sniffing" the traffic to a website.
Also it really amazes me when people are so afraid of buying anything online with their credit card where a computer deals with it and a person never even sees it but will go to a restaurant and give there card to a COMPLETE STRANGER who will take it out of sight and could really do whatever the hell they wanted with it. People just don't get it.
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HAHAHA I thought the exact same thing. I was like "wow I didn't know Quake online was such a hit overthere!"
HAHAHAHA I fuckin love Better Off Dead!
Actually its funny that you ask that because I just recently moved one of my younger brothers to Ubuntu from Windows XP. (Background: I'm 20, live out of the house, work as a DBA -- formerly IT, my younger brother Sam is 15 and my younger brother Bill is 17). Both of them were having troubles with there computers. Basically every few months they would get so clogged up with malware that they were almost impossible to use. Sam's was the one to go out first. I got tired of reinstalling windows over and over so finally I suggested linux. He was a little iffy about it because of my previous attempts to get them on it (read: older versions of linux, not quite user friendly enough). I figured since I run Ubuntu myself it would be easy for me to help troubleshoot any problems, and besides I know how user friendly it can be for a newbie if they have an experienced person to help set it up perfect for them from the get go and to help with the little linux hiccups that can occur.
First what I did was ask him exactly what he used his computer for so I could make sure he could still do all of those things. His answers: AIM, watching dumb videos on the internet, music especially ipod functionality, and writing papers for school. So I set him up with Ubuntu Dapper (edgy wasn't out yet) and set up all of the w32codecs for him for his videos (he has no problems watching embedded WMV, MPG, flash movies, etc), firefox was preinstalled, gaim was preinstalled, OpenOffice was preinstalled, and I set him up with Listen, beep media player, and gtkpod for now (im working on finding the best ipod solution for him). Then I set up his printer and got him connected to the file share on Bill's computer. All done. So for him it was fairly easy because he doesnt do much and Linux's multimedia capabilities have improved dramatically over the past.
After I had it all set up I let him use it for a week and had him tell me any issues he came across: videos that wouldnt play, program errors, that kind of thing. He had a few issues but I quickly resolved those. After that I showed him a video of Compiz in action and he was floored. I set that up for him and after that he was loving Ubuntu. Now he's been on it for a few months and is starting to realize that he has less issues on Linux than he did on Windows and that his system hasnt gotten any slower over time as windows always did.
Now that he is happy with it and Bill's computer is basically unusable right now, he has no problem with me installing it on his computer. And in this case they both have exactly the same computer so maintenance will be easy. Score 2 for Linux.
But basically the most important point I find is that as long as you first find out what they use their computer for and you know Linux will do that for them, then just set it up nice for them from the get go and be around to help a little when they need it and they will be happy. If they use things that are a pain to do in linux (lots of games, photoshop, etc.) don't try. It will be more hassle then it is worth and it will turn them off to Linux in the future. Anyway, good luck with your conversion!
Last 0.1% of replies: F1RST P0ST!!!!111
Ya but can a fish living in that last 400 feet come up on land and live too? Nope -- which is exactly the point.
Hell ya on reburning all your DVDs. I absolutely HATE the prohibited user actions. Its a friggin dvd dammit. I should be able to hit menu at anytime and go right to the menu. I don't need to see the stupid FBI warning EVERY TIME I WATCH IT. I know they're gonna fine me $10,000 and stick me in jail for 5 years if I so much as think about pirating it. I DON'T CARE! That is the main reason I prefer burned dvds. That and turning off macrovision. It's so stupid that I can't hook my dvd player up to a friends vcr inputs to get it into the TV. A lot of people don't have extra inputs on their tv and the only way they hook stuff up (such as consoles, etc.) is via the ports on the VCR. Completely retarded. It never ceases to amaze me how these guys just dont get it.
HILLARIOUS!!! Considering that all Microsoft employees are running admin while on their own MSDN they have one of their microsoft security engineering guys says:
"I've said this many times, but I'll say it again, 'Running with an administrative account is dangerous to the health of your computer and your data.' So, whenever someone says they must operate their computers as administrators, I always try to persuade them it's not the correct thing to do from a security perspective."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!OMGROFL!!!1111
The biggest thing that non-tech people seem to miss when they use this argument is that no matter what you sign up for (any service that keeps your credit card records) there is a chance of that company getting hacked and your records getting out.
Just look at all the recent stories of millions of credit card numbers getting leaked from major corporations. You don't have to even be on the internet. If you signed up on the phone or whatever then it can still be stolen. In fact I think that any persons individual info is more likely to be stolen that way than by the usual argument of someone "sniffing" the traffic to a website.
Also it really amazes me when people are so afraid of buying anything online with their credit card where a computer deals with it and a person never even sees it but will go to a restaurant and give there card to a COMPLETE STRANGER who will take it out of sight and could really do whatever the hell they wanted with it. People just don't get it.