A friend of my father called earlier in the week, bemoaning his problems with Windows.. and fancied trying Linux...

Well, I suggested he leave his machine with me to look at. After fixing Windows for him, I installed a copy of SuSE 9.2 alongside for him to try.

I decided on SuSE because it's a nice, friendly distro, and I've found it quite reliable in the past.. I took my time with the install and made sure that everything was exactly as I wanted - the last thing I want is for him to have a bad first experience; if he gets on with it, I know of a few others who could be persuaded to 'make the change' too!

Anyway, it all went very well, and he came to pick the box up today - he certainly seemed impressed with SuSE - everything worked fine, including Speedtouch ADSL modem and his HP 'all-in-one' printer / scanner/ copier..

Fingers crossed - I'll call him tomorrow to see how he's got on after his first day with Linux!

So all you have to worry about are the "how the hell do I do ........." type questions.

I can still remember when I installed SuSE 8.0 - almost by accident. I didn't know what I was doing, I didn't even understand that it was a completely different operating system.

I found the "look" different enough to be confusing as hell, and just spent my first month just clicking on stuff too see what (if anything) it did.

It sounds like your dads mate, already has a reasonable grasp, and probably won't be fazed by the different looking interface.

Though I bet that you still have to answer things with a "think of it as the same as XXXXX in windows. the buttons look a little different, and the menu's have more in them, but it pretty much works in the same way as XXXXX".

Hell, I had to do that when I convinced my Aunt, that she'd probably be better off/safer with firefox and thunderbird, than with the IE/OE that she was using.

Do you know what clinched it? I showed her how to add some themes and extensions. She was hooked (though she's not brave enough to try linux - though I can forgive her that, she's 81).

Still, well done for the potential new convert.

regards

John

LOL - yes, I'm braced for the deluge any time soon!

The guy seemed pretty switched on when I was showing him what was what, but like you suggest, it's really only when you start having a go yourself that things can get confusing..

I still remember my first tentative steps about three years ago with Mandrake 9, and it was quite daunting at the time.

Still, if he's willing to get stuck in, I'm hoping he'll find it more rewarding than Windows - hell, at least he won't be presented with any more "it won't boot and I've got no idea why because all that happens is... nothing" type scenarios. At least with Linux, if something does go wrong, there's a fighting chance of being able to fix it!

So, one down, hopefully more to follow!

unfortunately, you've fixed his windows.

I did this for a friend (fixed his winxp), and also installed a nice fully done-up linux install, made it look real good and dummied it up, secured it, auto-update, mplayer, java, the works. Showed it to him and he was like - cool! He understood that there'd be no more crashes, viruses, spyware. I put spreadsheets, word processors, did up thunderbird for e-mail, media players, burners, firefox - just roll over the icons - you'll know what to do!. The printer was configured, the speakers sounded great, flashy desktop, P4 ran like lightening.

next time i see him, he's using windows. next time it breaks hopefully soon (maybe i'll hack it), im not fixing it.

.. yeah i know.. i just kind of thought it might be best to get that straight because of the possible situation where somebody else might attempt to re-install windows and wipe out the boot loader..

it's a kind of risk i guess; i hope he sticks with linux, and i'm hoping SuSE will be good enough to stand on its merits.. we shall see.

i've already had one "help! i'm stuck" telephone call, so i'm going to try and nurse him through the next few days. he was certainly very p***ed off with windows - i think he said he was on his third reinstall in a matter of months due to viruses!

It might also be possible that if your dad is more of a 'user' than a 'hacker' you may not have as many questions as you think. Once he gets used to the differences and looses the Windows mindset he may feel very comfortable with Linux.

I set up a Linux (Fedora Core 4) box for a friends mother and she is very happy with it. She didn't know what Linux was until I showed her my system. The first thing she said was "It looks like Windows"....I didn't argue with her.

When She found out that I could install a great office suite (OpenOffice) and get her on the internet and e-mail (Firefox and Thunderbird). She was impressed. What really sold her was that I could install everything she would need, legally, at no cost. She had the typical learning curve issues, but she was also not a real Windows XP user either. That helped. Now my friend is interested in giving FC4 a try.

Well done too you as well isd2301.

I suspect that there are quite a few examples such as you and kevinatkins have quoted. Though linux generally (though it'd probably be the result of a single distro) needs some proper marketing and some further anti-trust/competitive legislation/action somewhere.

All the time that there is such a mark up, and difference, between the retail and OEM versions of windows, not forgetting that MS also are allowed to get away with the anti-competitive practice in their dealings with OEM producers, that preclude them selling kit with either alternative OS's or none at all (and I suspect that the arrangements that surround Mac are different somehow), then it's basically gonna be down to examples similar to those quoted in this thread. i.e. those who feel that windows/MS are/have let(ting) them down by either technical contraints or poor quality OS, or those who just want access but are, for various reasons, ambivalent/just don't care as long as "it" does the job.

Lets face it, the biggest inroads, have been made for linux, in environments where cost is THE major factor. Sure, it helps that the world of the linux developer has "come on" leaps and bounds - they do an excellent job IMO.

I just find it a bit of a shame, that as these various projects develop, that not enough attention is paid to the documentation of "how to use ......" as it is, too the coding.

If I had someone fix my PC and I had Windows installed and they gave me back my system with Linux on it I would be pretty pissed off. I think kevinatkins did the right thing, let people have a choice on what they would prefer to use. If its Windows then so be it, its their choice not yours.

Sometimes there's a feeling as if one were responsible when one installs Linux to a friend and for some reason he dislikes it. In a greater scale, it's the same thing as the frequent flames against Linux we're seeing here. It's rewarding when you introduce a friend to Linux, we understand his/her attempts at it and sometimes identify with it. If you've done your part well, there comes a point where it does not depend on you anymore.

Switching to Linux isn't hard these days. A gradual process where you familiarize with the interface, burn CD's, install software, recompile the kernel, etc. is something nobody should miss, and at this stage they're by their own.