Wife wants to keep Windows but I want Ubuntu for her

[Joe_Johnston]

Well, I have been talking with her about it and apparently she is willing after a few months of testing by me so it is inevitable for her to get Ubuntu on her system in the next few months.

[KillerKelvUK]

Ha a little chuckle at this thread...have you considered skinning Ubuntu to look like Windows...maybe wifey won't notice...

http://www.howtogeek.com/55985/how-t...ike-windows-7/

Good luck

[Thee]

So what's stopping her from using Ubuntu? The looks or the software?

[Rich.T.]

So what's stopping her from using Ubuntu? The looks or the software?

The learning curve. (Even if it is easier, it wil still be there!) Believe me.

Try changing your TV set .

[Rich.T.]

"apparently" she is willing after a few months of testing by me so it is "inevitable" for her to get Ubuntu on her system in the next few months.

You may get her around to your way of thinking eventually, but I'd recommend that if you have kids; tutor them along with your Mrs and she will come along for the ride, too.

[Tom_ZeCat]

Running Windows in a VM is viable. But if your wife likes to watch YouTube or Netflix on Windows, she will beat you about the head and shoulders. Video in a VM is typically terrible. You are limited to the video "card" provided by the VM software's hardware abstraction layer -- which is well nigh useless in VirtualBox. Streaming is a No Go.

^^^ This. If she's going to be doing much in the way of videos, go with a dual boot. I have my laptop set up with with a dual boot and with Windows under VirtualBox. VB is great if I want to run Quicken 2012 (which runs poorly under WINE) or Final Draft (which doesn't run at all under WINE). However, if I want to do video editing in ConvertXtoDVD, I reboot into Windows.

[bojo]

Actually my wife does use ubuntu and I am using win 7 in virtual box. Win 7 in virtual box ... sucks (it is not "that" great even out of a VM... just OK). Since we have only 1 computer she got used to it little by little. And I am actually impressed that she is mostly OK with nautilus and navigating to the shared folder for windows files (don't lough here - documents prepared in windows, converted to PDF for printing, moved to Linux and printed from there - is not fun). There are so many programs that work just fine on ubuntu - including you tube is OK and music is very good. Win 7 is limited to the office suite (she is using it not me - and it is because she has to know it too). I am using it for VPN - Aventail (because there is no deb package and I got burned with it before). I don't really think we can reject one system or another (all of them have good and weak points...). With all the strugles that I had with Linux (started back then in the days of Mandrake 7) however - it is still my favorite system and it is because I like it. And my wife respects it. So it is worth it to try. You can always back up your hard drive to an image - clonezilla for example. If you have only 1 machine well... one of you will have to compromize (and live in the VM environment). I've run ubuntu in VM too - on a mac machine. And it is also a good approach. It is more like - who is using the computer for what - what is more critical to be available. Then just talk and if you both agree to give it a try one way or another - then go for it.

[1clue]

I have some really good advice for you:

Don't try to make your wife like Ubuntu. It won't work. It can't work. All she will see is you trying to pressure her into doing something she doesn't want to do.

Instead, use it yourself. Don't be ostentatious about it, just use it to get your work done.

I use a Mac for my workstation for work, and I have a Linux box that I use for my personal workstation. My wife (then my girlfriend) had Windows Vista and had viruses every few days, it would get so bad that the system was unusable. I'd boot off the antivirus CD and clean it off, it would take hours and then she had a computer again for a few days.

Meanwhile I made an account for her on my Linux box, and let her use it if she wanted. She is a native Es_CO speaker, and I'm a native En_US speaker. We needed different settings. Anyway, I set up her email and facebook and all that, and just left it there.

When her Vista laptop became unusable, she would get on while I was at work and use Linux. I originally noticed only because she would still be logged in when I sat down. I said nothing. She started asking questions and I answered them, and the antivirus sessions got further and further apart. Finally, she just wanted me to install Ubuntu on her laptop.

People don't need or necessarily even WANT Linux to look like Windows. In doing it that way, you tell the world that you consider Windows to be the thing to beat. Meaning YOU think it's better. And by that measure, Linux can NEVER beat Windows because Windows is automatically the thing to beat, and you can't be better at Windows because Windows is a moving target.

People are smart. They don't have trouble learning iPhone or Android, or Mac vs Windows. Or Ford vs Chevy vs Toyota. It's all got common features to do the things that everyone needs to do, just the controls are a bit different.

So don't do anything but use your Ubuntu box. Don't be ostentatious (Hey, look at me! I'm using Ubuntu!!!!) or people will think you're corny or trying to sell you something. Just use it, people will notice and after awhile they'll start asking questions if they're interested. Answer the questions, DON'T POUNCE ON THEM but make it clear that you don't mind helping.

The best way to sell something is to show people how it's used in everyday situations, no fuss, and in ways the person might want to use it. It doesn't hurt to show a little bling, but don't get outrageous about it or it gets annoying. People like to change it up sometimes. Let them sell it to themselves.