Sticky Situation

[jpoRS]

Hey,

Some friends saw me running Ubuntu, and for the most part they all seemed interested in it. They liked the fact that viruses were non existant, it was free, and that you could have XP/OS X and Linux on the same computer. My problem comes in when I feel like only two of them acctually have the common sense/patience to acctually make the switch from XP/ OS X to Ubuntu. I don't want to sound like an elitest snob telling them "No Ubuntu for you", but I also don't want their hopes up that Linux is some magical dream world where computer issues are a thing of the past. So what should I do?

jim

[beercz]

Run a live CD for a start - let them play with Ubuntu for a while to see if it is for them.

[kidders]

Hi there,

It might be worth pointing out that Linux has about as much in common with, say, XP as OSX does (ie not very much at all), so learning to work it effectively will be a bit like learning to work Windows for the first time.

Some of your friends may have found it easy ... for others it may have been more of a challenge to get their heads around how Microsoft arranges things. I guess you could say that, if your friends have the patience to learn to work their computers all over again, Ubuntu is definitely worth a shot :-)

Like beercz said, live CDs are great, but they don't tend to give you much of a feel for how to deal with things that might go wrong.


I also don't want their hopes up that Linux is some magical dream world where computer issues are a thing of the past.But it's the truth hehe :-P Well ... if you have the time/inclination/knowhow to learn the ropes!

[migla]

Even for an almost computer illiterate person ubuntu is just fine, as long as someone sets up some things (flash and mp3 and such) for them.

Find out exactly what they use a computer for. Some people only know how to log in and start firefox and type in an url. Those people can be quite happy with linux.

For a bit more experienced user who knows a thing or two about running xp, it's tougher, but I say put dual boot for these people and help them get started. No harm done if they decide to stick with windows.

[smoker]

this book is worth a read, written by a suse user, but any new linux user should find it helpful for any kde distro.

“The Easiest Linux Guide You’ll Ever Read - an introduction to Linux for Windows users” - a book by Scott Morris

he's made it freely available here: http://www.suseblog.com/?p=141

[Klaidas]

Umm... So if I understand correcty, there will be "no ubuntu for them" unless they delete Windows?

[coder_]

I also don't want their hopes up that Linux is some magical dream world where computer issues are a thing of the past.You know what? I should probably tell my friends this. I basically told them Linux is magical.

[fuscia]

start reading configuration files to them. that should take of it.

[jpoRS]

I was suggesting Live CDs to them, the fact that you get them free (as in beer) blew their mind. The ones that I think might acctually dual boot were amazed at the free as in speech part too.


Umm... So if I understand correcty, there will be "no ubuntu for them" unless they delete Windows?

No, thats not it at all, of course they are welcome to dual boot, I mean that I don't want to tell them not to get Ubuntu. Its their computer, they can do whatever they want, but I know that some of them will get very frustrated about terminal and other such "hard" parts of the OS.

jim