I was doing some work for a nice lady who still has Windows 98. She was complaining of slower than normal Internet access. First thinking was spyware. She can't afford a new machine or OS right now, so I mentioned Linux as a possible solution, should a reinstall be required. She appeared interested.

I took her machine home and gave it the ol' once over. There were a few Microsoft "extras" loaded, which I disabled, but no spyware. I also upgraded her RAM from 64M to 256M. After all this her computer operated normally.

She uses MSN as her ISP, and pays $20/month for 56K service! Ouch!

Anyway, as I said earlier, I mentioned Linux to her. She's an older lady, and only uses her computer for email, and periodic document writings. She almost appears to be a perfect candidate for Linux, except for the following factors:
- She's using MSN dialup. I'm not familiar with configuring dialup in Linux, nor do I know if MSN would work in Linux.
- Though she doesn't use her computer for anything but email, her kids periodically buy her software, most likely not acknowledging the fact that it's Linux, and not Windows.
- I can't guarantee support for her on a continued basis, should she have a lot of questions about her new operating system. I'm concerned about putting her in a situation where others may not be able to support her, either.

So, my questions for you all:
- In this situation, what would you do?
- At what point do you draw a line and say "I think you're good for Linux"?

Not sure about dial-up, but they are alternatives to MSN, aMSN and Pidgin

Come again? Periodic, for what? and what?

This is for you to decide, personally, if I introduce someone to Linux or any other new stuff, I make it a point to help out atleast until the particular party gets acquainted/comfortable with the new things.

If you are absolutely sure you can't give her some of your time, then back off.

Her actual ISP is MSN, not just her software. And if we know MS, they'll probably be keeping it so you HAVE to use their software for connection.


Kid's games, whatever they think will help her. Don't have the whole story on this.

Right. This was probably my biggest worry of all. I could of course get her going on Linux, but I can't sit by the phone waiting to answer her every question. If her X failed, it would take me up to a week to be able to get to her house.

I'm not pushing Linux on her. I just mentioned it as a possible replacement in case Windows was dead.

i pay 24 usd for msn dialup. sux, but it's the only local number.
set up her modem like normal, then in kppp, set her username as "MSN/username@msn.com" without quotes. Password as normal, DNS and ip as dynamic. If you use pon/wvdial or whatever, set the dns servers to the opendns ones. Oh, get the phone numbers from the software (dialer); run the setup, enter her info, then copy the recommended numbers.

Since Windows is *not* dead.. I think the obvious solution is to leave her with that. I don't know why you suggested Linux in the first place, instead of say - a windows reinstall, or whatever.

I see a lot of users (around here, since this is where I actually interact with the "Linux" community) which are trying to push Linux everywhere, when there really is no need to. It's worse when said users are newbies, they've just discovered the system and are pushin Linux because they want to let the world know of their discovery. In any case, what ever happened to using the right tool for the job? Since when does every Linux user out there think they know what's best for their peers, etc. etc. etc.

I know this isn't *your* case, but I just felt like inserting a little rant.

You could just install AVG Free anti-virus and Ad-Aware SE Personal for her. No real need to change her OS.

bloody hell ... i cant even find my kerio too ...

ok , introduce linux like how you would introduce windows to the whole lot of stupids in your society ...

as for the modem thing ... by judging from links that have been given to you , i suspect that you can actually try finding some work arounds for it ... i hope that that can be successful ...

as for the gaming things(probably also including educational materials) in linux ... i think that would actually be a good growing up enviroment for kids ...


//try selling values like how you would sell silly practical urban yogi courses for the white collar clerical class ...


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I'm having a hard time understanding alred's posts.

Don't worry, you're not the only one.

as long as he can solve the modem/internet connection problem(which i sincerely hope that he is successfull)... after that , dont convey too much about what is linux ...

try to anticipate as much as possible what she is going to do with the system ... install , setup and work out on an enviroment and applications that can help her finishing the tasks ... again dont talk too much about the virtues and the rest of linux ... people most of the time dont actually need that to move along ...

also need to anticipate the actaul difficulties that she will have to face before she comes to you for "explainations" ... introduce her to more applications which comform to somewhat stringent guidelines that she have to follow but ... preferably you have been coaxing her into bit by bit started from day one and forward onto and along her journey ...



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Ok, that makes it three of us

about support linux is a set it and forget it once linux is installed and configured there will be no need to keep
reparing it unlike windoze I have never seen linux reconfigure itself like I have seen windoze do
as long as she can't log in as root she can't mess anything up BUT nether can she install any new software
on the other side of this KDE could already have all the software she would ever want
maybe you could setup a duel boot with linux as the default option and let her eas her self into linux
the way things stand right now if anything happens to her windoze install disk she is SOL when the time comes for a maintenance reinstall
print this out and have her read it so she will know how linux differs from woidoze http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

- in this situation I would give it back to her with the ram upgrade and leave it at that, it will run much better now.
- I only recommend Linux to people who are enthusiastic about learning something new, my guess is someone using win98 doesnt care to learn something new

I think you're done.

Already fixed. (see my last post)