Squonk07
October 29th, 2009, 06:28 AM
I've conducted a kind of "Mojave" experiment with my parents. They're that sort who are absolutely intolerant of the slightest change to anything with the computer, and (of course) they're Windows XP users. And, unfortunately, our ISP has on several occasions had service slowdowns right around major system updates, so (*gasp* yes, I know, I can feel your sympathy from here) my parents have now been conditioned to hate software and system updates. Yep. They're that kind. *sigh*
I threw them for a loop. I installed Ubuntu in place of the Vista partition that never got any use (again, change) and "accidentally" left it running. I left for campus on Tuesday, and they had already been using it since Monday. So far I haven't gotten a phone call demanding "What is this **** and how do we get rid of it," so unless they figured out they could just reboot and all would be well (Windows is set as the default) it seems they haven't noticed that they're using Ubuntu. I used the Shiki-Colors theme, configured Gnome as a single Panel, and used the same desktop background as in Windows (Apple's snow leopard, incidentally). Superficially it looks similar to the Windows install. I set up Thunderbird and Firefox exactly as they were set up in the Windows partition. The only thing I couldn't do was login to several web accounts (I don't have the passwords), but they will just assume the cookies have expired and blame Microsoft (as usual).
I installed Ubuntu on this computer mainly so we have a functional backup system in case Windows ever dies (I think we've set a record with that computer: three years without a reinstall). And by "functional" of course I mean "infinitely better" for my parents' modest needs. But I'd have a difficult time explaining that. If I tried to just tell them to give it a shot, the first problem they had they'd say "This is **** get it off I don't like it." If they use it for a while, though, and don't have any problems, then maybe I can get them to switch permanently. They've been complaining about the system running sluggishly lately, and what astounds me is that it took them that long to "notice" it. It always ran a little slowly, which is odd because it's an Athlon X2 3800+ -based system with 1 GB of RAM; XP should scream on such a system. Ubuntu, of course, runs very smoothly.
Enough rambling. On Friday I can go home and check; if Ubuntu is still running I will be very pleased.
I threw them for a loop. I installed Ubuntu in place of the Vista partition that never got any use (again, change) and "accidentally" left it running. I left for campus on Tuesday, and they had already been using it since Monday. So far I haven't gotten a phone call demanding "What is this **** and how do we get rid of it," so unless they figured out they could just reboot and all would be well (Windows is set as the default) it seems they haven't noticed that they're using Ubuntu. I used the Shiki-Colors theme, configured Gnome as a single Panel, and used the same desktop background as in Windows (Apple's snow leopard, incidentally). Superficially it looks similar to the Windows install. I set up Thunderbird and Firefox exactly as they were set up in the Windows partition. The only thing I couldn't do was login to several web accounts (I don't have the passwords), but they will just assume the cookies have expired and blame Microsoft (as usual).
I installed Ubuntu on this computer mainly so we have a functional backup system in case Windows ever dies (I think we've set a record with that computer: three years without a reinstall). And by "functional" of course I mean "infinitely better" for my parents' modest needs. But I'd have a difficult time explaining that. If I tried to just tell them to give it a shot, the first problem they had they'd say "This is **** get it off I don't like it." If they use it for a while, though, and don't have any problems, then maybe I can get them to switch permanently. They've been complaining about the system running sluggishly lately, and what astounds me is that it took them that long to "notice" it. It always ran a little slowly, which is odd because it's an Athlon X2 3800+ -based system with 1 GB of RAM; XP should scream on such a system. Ubuntu, of course, runs very smoothly.
Enough rambling. On Friday I can go home and check; if Ubuntu is still running I will be very pleased.