[Wylug-discuss] Trying to use Linux at home

[Smylers]

John R Hudson writes:

> Personally, I would never recommend anyone to go straight from Windows
> to Linux.

I think "never recommend anyone" is too strong: certainly there are
people for whom it wouldn't be appropriate, but that doesn't mean nobody
can cope with such a change.

> The learning curve is too steep and there are certain applications for
> which there is no adequate Linux equivalent.

But not all users have need for such applications.  Possibly counter-
intuitively, it can be the more technical Windows users who find it
hardest to adapt to Linux.

I recently converted a friend's laptop from Windows Vista to Ubuntu.
She only uses it for MSN Messenger, Facebook, Hotmail, and the web --
she barely noticed the change in OS.  I doubt she even knows what an OS
is; she was just delighted that I'd "got Facebook working again on her
computer"!

I wasn't actually _trying_ to convert her to Linux.  But wireless wasn't
working on Windows Vista, and installing Ubuntu over it was genuinely
the easiest way of fixing it!  I (and another techie friend) struggled
for some time with Vista's various places related to network settings,
but simply couldn't get it working; it was accepting the wireless
password and getting an IP address, but not managing to connect to the
internet using that.  Ubuntu just auto-detected everything and worked
first time.

In fact, I first got the wireless working with Ubuntu running as a live
CD.  At that point the laptop's owner was so pleased to be back on the
internet that it was a struggle to get her away from the laptop long
enough for me to install Ubuntu permanently!

I'm not claiming that my friend is typical of all users.  But she does
exist, so clearly it isn't the case that nobody can go straight from
Windows to Linux.

Cheers.

Smylers