I’m visiting my parents for the holidays and convinced them to let me switch them to Linux.

They use their computer for the typical basic stuff; email, YouTube, Word, Facebook, and occasionally printing/scanning.

I promised my mom that everything would look the same and work the same. I used Linux Mint and customized the theme to look like Windows 10. I even replaced the Mint “Start” button with the Windows logo.

So far they like it and everything runs great. Plus it’s snappier now that Windows isn’t hogging all the system resources.

  • cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    50·
    11 months ago

    I did that about 10 years ago because I got tired of removing malware for them. They haven’t had any malware since then.

    • onlinepersona@programming.devEnglish
      25·
      11 months ago

      Same. And also because it kept getting slower for no reason. The only support requests at the beginning were “how do I install this” --> app store, and “it won’t boot” --> that took longer because they had turned off the computer during a system update - by holding down the power button. The last one warranted a sticky note on the screen “NEVER turn off the computer during an update”.

    • d3Xt3r@lemmy.nzM
      19·
      11 months ago

      Same here. Not just my parents, but also some of my aunts and uncles. None of them are particularly tech savvy and none of them have had any major issues.

      People who claim that Linux is difficult to use, or not suitable for newbies, have no idea what they’re talking about.

  • Steve@lemmy.todayEnglish
    42·
    11 months ago

    An excellent choice to use Linux Mint! If my parents allowed me to switch their computers to Linux, I would’ve chosen Linux Mint as well for them. But, I probably wouldn’t give them the Windows 10 look.

    • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
      34·
      11 months ago

      My parents would ask me for tech support anyway no matter the OS. I have them update software and update Firefox and Chromium and their Netflixing will keep working, been very low stress generally.

    • Lettuce eat lettuce@lemmy.mlOP
      33·
      11 months ago

      As if I’m not already doing that. Why do you think I was home working on my parent’s computer in the first place?

      Plus with how shitty Windows is getting, I’ll likely be doing less tech support going forward.

    • ardent_abysm@lemm.ee
      23·
      11 months ago

      I set up Mint on my parent’s PC a couple of years ago, and the amount of support I have had to provide has dropped to basically zero.

    • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
      13·
      11 months ago

      I don’t know, maybe?

      I play support now, and have for decades. Sometimes windows can be a bear.

      Maybe, for basic usage like this, Linux can make sense if it’s well thought out?

      I have an older (80’s) family friend who recently switched from a laptop to an iPad, and seems OK with it (surprisingly).

    • lemmyvore@feddit.nlEnglish
      6·
      11 months ago

      Typically all of us who switched our relatives to Linux were doing support anyway — but it’s much easier than Windows.

      Windows needs constant handholding like a needy pet (and not the cute kind). With Linux I spend extended periods of time without having to do anything. I get like one major issue a year, and it’s usually hardware related. The only questions I get occasionally are “do you know an app that does thing”.

      • django@discuss.tchncs.de
        15·
        11 months ago

        Make me use windows and I will write a similar blog post about me hating every second of it. But I don’t have to, so I won’t.

        The part about dragging and dropping files like its the 90s, instead of just pushing to your git repo was funny.

        • TCB13@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          11 months ago

          Cmon, this isn’t a compatible and good enough alternative:

          It is something that will just give you issues down the line when people expect documents to look consistent.

          • d3Xt3r@lemmy.nzM
            9·
            11 months ago

            Firstly, there’s no guarantee that a document would look exactly the same even within different versions of MS Office itself. Also, try opening any complex document in MS Office on macOS for instance, and you’ll most likely notice issues or differences compared to the Windows version. In my old sysadmin job, where I used a Mac, we had a standard “change control” template that we had to fill out when doing infrastructure changes, and the radio buttons used in the form didn’t work on the macOS version of Office. So issues like this are pretty common. These sort of issues are why people either normally ignore them OR in the case that layout/formatting is critical (eg: for publishing/printing), then they’d use PDF or TeX or similar formats, where the formatting is preserved.

            Secondly, as @cygnus@lemmy.ca mentioned, use OnlyOffice if MSO compatibility is important. Below is a screenshot I captured of a recreated Lorem Ipsum docx on my Linux machine, with MS Office Online (running on Edge) on the left and OnlyOffice on the right.

            As you can see, they’re virtually identical - and any difference in the sizing etc would come down to the fact that I’m running the web version of MSO, so the zoom/scaling may not exactly match that of OO. But other than that, if you check the spacing and everything else, it’s pretty accurate.

            Finally, in saying that, even OO has it’s limitations and isn’t a 100% replacement for MSO - as it can’t run macros, or may not be able to display certain types of embedded objects in Excel and so on. But then, even the web and Mac versions of MS Office has these sort of limitations. But the average home user wouldn’t normally use macros or advanced features in Office, so for the most part, OO, or even LO should be fine for most users.

            Also, just as a reminder, in this thread we’re discussing about how Linux can work fine for most home users, the kind of users who have simple requirements, and aren’t dependent on specific proprietary programs like Photoshop etc. Obviously Linux will not be suitable for every single need or use case out there, but neither is Windows or MacOS - if you have special needs or requirements, then use the tool that’s best for the job. But nitpicking minor differences like this isn’t helping anyone, we’d be sitting here arguing all day about how “X OS sucks because it can’t do Y”, which is a pointless exercise.

            Edit: I was curious to see how bad LibreOffice actually was so I just tested it out:

            … and that was surprisingly not bad at all! Just one word out of place. But this goes to show how opensource software is ever evolving and constantly improving - so a particular criticisms you may have had in the past may no longer be applicable, unless you test it out yourself against the latest versions.

            • TCB13@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              11 months ago

              On my print with version 7.6 it wasn’t just a word out of place. I noticed you’re opening a DOCX and even if it looks better than what I showed it is useless. LibreOffice refuses to save in DOCX meaning I can’t edit documents.

              Not improving at all, you just did the wrong test :P

              • d3Xt3r@lemmy.nzM
                5·
                11 months ago

                Um… that’s NOT a refusal, it’s just a warning. Clicking on that highlighted button will save the DOCX.

                To not get the warning again, all you have to do is untick the checkbox which says “ask when not saving on ODF” - it’s there right in your screenshot.

          • django@discuss.tchncs.de
            5·
            11 months ago

            Different people have different workflows. Documents is something I create using LaTeX and Emacs Org Mode. I have almost no use for things like word processors. I spend most of my day in a text editor and using windows would slow Emacs down. I don’t expect everyone to work like I do, so you should not assume that everyone uses word processors for their work. Libreoffice Writer is totally sufficient for the rare occurences in which I want to use one. I am the only Linux user at my workplace, all the others use Windows or MacOS and so far I have never used anything except Linux in my professional life. If you need specific features from word, excel or need to install Photoshop or games, I understand your need for a different operating system. My needs are different, I need a system which I can adapt to my wishes.

      • baseless_discourse@mander.xyz
        14·
        11 months ago

        This article seems misguided, people pick their OS because of what they need. I can list many things with subpar experience on Windows: emacs suck; latex is slow; libreoffice and thunderbird crashes like nobody’s bushiness; opam is straightup unsupported (which means ocaml, dune, coq is a pain); there is absolutely nothing in the app store, means that people will need to resort to commandline tools to install and update app.

        All of this obviously will not decrown Windows from a OS with mass appeal. Since the software most people need runs well on windows.

        Another example, in my crowd it is quite rude to send a docx file between people assuming people want to use or have access to Microsoft office, so everything is in PDF. Yet in many other crowd docx is the default. We were never bounded by the need of a specific office software, while others do not enjoy the same luxury.

        There is needs by different groups of people, and that means they choose the OS that is most comfortable for them. Linux is not going to have 70% desktop adoption rate overnight, and no one is saying that. In fact both the quote in the article and this post explicitly dismissed “linux is ready for everyone” delusion. They are just comfortable in Linux, and what is wrong with that?

          • Astaroth@lemm.ee
            2·
            11 months ago

            Are they really picking their OS then?

            But yes I agree, most people will just use what they have and Windows is the standard because they made sure it would become the standard.

        • TCB13@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          11 months ago

          Well the article lists at least 8 groups of people with real and common professions that can’t run on Linux because it wont cut it.

          Linux is not going to have 70% desktop adoption rate overnight, and no one is saying that. In fact both the quote in the article and this post explicitly dismissed “linux is ready for everyone” delusion. They are just comfortable in Linux, and what is wrong with that?

          Yeah, Linux isn’t for everyone yet people here on Lemmy defend it like a religion.

      • InfiniWheel@lemmy.one
        7·
        11 months ago

        It depends a lot. If you are never using MSOffice for anything other than the most basic writing Libreoffice does cut it. Linux overall does just work for the most part if the person using it just plans on using the browser anyway. Everything else is spot on tho.

        And funny thing about the gaming performance bit, I’m no expert and this is anecdotal, but my games actually run better on Linux than Windows by default. Dunno why

        • TCB13@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          11 months ago

          . If you are never using MSOffice for anything other than the most basic writing Libreoffice does cut it.

          Does it tho? It can even render a simple, unformatted bullet list consistently:

          Linux overall does just work for the most part if the person using it just plans on using the browser anyway.

          With this I agree 100%.

          • JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee
            6·
            11 months ago

            Doesn’t look like a important difference to me, rich text documents are meant to be adaptive. If you want it to look the same everywhere, export to a pdf.

            • TCB13@lemmy.worldEnglish
              2·
              11 months ago

              What a bullshit, try to share a document with someone and then we’ll talk about adaptive documents.

            • Fedora@lemmy.haigner.me
              1·
              11 months ago

              We’re talking about Word documents, right? People hate when a line wraps in the information block, or their fold and hole marks move, each time anyone with LibreOffice touches their letters. Or their crop, bleed, registration, fold marks, color bars, and safety margins when they print anything professionally. Sorry people, but Word documents require precision sometimes. They look the same, even across several major Word versions. If LibreOffice can’t guarantee that, then you can’t use LibreOffice in an MS Office environment where precision is necessary, and this starts with letters.

  • Grass@sh.itjust.works
    27·
    11 months ago

    Welcome to the club. It’s the don’t need to remove malware from the parents computers every week club.

  • KE0VVT@midwest.social
    25·
    11 months ago

    I don’t believe in making GNU/Linux look exactly like Windows. It’s a different OS, and any attempt to fool users will be in vain.

    I tell family members: “I don’t know anything about Windows/macOS.” (Because I don’t, at this point.) “I can only help you if you use what I use.” Usually, they stop asking me for help, and that’s great for me. If they say yes, I install Fedora with GNOME and whatever applications they expect to use. After a brief explanation of how GNOME works, people generally get used to it and are satisfied.

    I share my laptop with Mom. It runs GNU Guix System with GNOME. She uses it to run Chrome for stuff she can’t get on her tablet. She’s used to it at this point.

    • LordKitsuna@lemmy.world
      14·
      11 months ago

      I mean I was with you in the first half, I also tell my family either to use it I’m used to or don’t ask me for help. But I would not be so rude as to put gnome on it and force them to learn a completely different workflow.

      Especially when 99.9% of what they do is in a web browser there’s no reason to change anything on them. I just used KDE plasma as it’s already extremely Windows 7 like in layout right out of the box couple more tweaks to make it a little more Windows 10 like and they don’t have to relearn a bunch of shit.

      They don’t need to know how to install things, I have a tray applet helper for handling updates all they have to do is Click yes, doesn’t matter if they understand the differences between Windows and that. They just need to be able to open the web browser, open libreoffice, and occasionally click print. There’s no reason for me to force them into an entirely different workflow.

      I’m glad that your mother figured it out and seems to be doing well, but to me it just feels like an unnecessary change

      • Richard@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        11 months ago

        It is not rude to advocate for computing freedom and privacy, no, in fact, I think it’s everyone’s duty to carry GNU/Linux into their families and campaign for its adoption.

        • LordKitsuna@lemmy.world
          2·
          11 months ago

          You should attempt to read the message again, I did not say Do not advocate for linux. I said do not pointlessly change the workflow. Gnome is a massive UI departure from windows and a workflow shift. Which is just completely unnecessary for the average person and just makes the transition hard for no reason.

    • TimeSquirrel@kbin.social
      13·
      11 months ago

      And that’s the thing. It’s great for casual users who do simple computing tasks, and it’s great for the programmers, hackers, and IT professionals. But there’s no middle ground for power users who know a bit more than the average users but can’t be bothered to learn shell scripting.

      • kpw@kbin.social
        9·
        11 months ago

        I’m using Linux ten years now and I never learned shell scripting. Or do you mean running commands in the shell?

      • MiddledAgedGuy@beehaw.org
        3·
        11 months ago

        I don’t agree with your exact reasoning on the middle ground, but I think there’s truth in the underlying sentiment.

        I do think that users that are are competent with technology but unfamiliar with Linux are pretty likely to get frustrated with it. I had this discussion with a friend just yesterday. They want to try out Linux because of frustration with Windows 11’s restrictive hardware requirements. But they also want to ease in to it. I think that’s wise. In this specific case, I think if they tried to dump Windows in it’s entirety and try to use Arch right off the bat, they’d get frustrated and give up. But if they tried a user friendly distro on a secondary piece of hardware? I think that has a good chance of creating a new Linux user.

        I guess the point of that rambling paragraph is that that type of a user is a challenge, but there is middle ground to be had.

        • SterbenDeathGun@lemmy.ml
          4·
          11 months ago

          It was hard for me too, but PopOS made my life easy back in the day when I first tried.

          No drivers needed, everything worked out of the box, including the Nvidia GeForce 2060 Mobile. So I just needed to get comfortable with the OS in general.

  • SigHunter@feddit.de
    21·
    11 months ago

    I switched my mothers Laptop to Gentoo with KDE some time ago and she did not even notice, because I placed the firefox icon at the same location it was in windows … 😜 she noticed only that the wallpaper is different

  • Holzkohlen@feddit.de
    21·
    11 months ago

    Got my dad on Mint for a few years now. That me reminds me I have to check which version he is on. He might still be on 20 something.

  • fhang@lemmy.world
    20·
    11 months ago

    I did the same thing with my Dad. He’s been using Linux Mint for a bit over 2 years now.

    Linux Mint is more than enough for his usage: Email, internet browsing and word processing.