[lug] Linux for Dad

[Nate Duehr]

George Sexton wrote:

>> Buy dad a Mac?  :-)
>>
>> Nate
> 
> You're so brave. That was going to be my suggestion but I was too 
> cowardly...

LOL... just mark me "-1 Troll" I guess... that's what all the other sane 
comments on Slashdot get.

Say ANYTHING bad about open-source projects/code you'll get blasted 
there.  Same with Digg.

(Try making a positive comment about McCain on Digg too... whew... 
flame-retardant undies required.  The "loony left" -- as opposed to 
normal left-leaning people -- has invaded Digg big-time.)

We "Linux folk" who will put up with patches, upgrades, messing around 
getting modern video cards working, yadda yadda... we have options.  But 
the general public, the folks often asking us for help, deserve to have 
solutions that don't require 10 years of computing background to get 
e-mail and a decent web browser.  (No jokes about Safari not being a 
decent web-browser, please... you can tell 'em to load Firefox "just in 
case" on Macs, after all.)

I think if we're genuinely concerned about their user experience, we 
Linux folks have to watch out for our "cultural bias" to to not look for 
the BEST solution for them, but to look ONLY for the solution that uses 
open code.  We do ourselves a disservice as "computer experts" and them 
a disservice forcing them to deal with the Linux desktop when we 
recommend it to the common person who has little or no interest in how 
their computer works.

I'd love to point "dad" toward something open, but the quality of the UI 
just isn't there.  I pointed multiple family members at Macs, and they 
never call anymore... but seem to get done what they want to get done.

The only confusion from them has been about iTunes and DRM'ed music... 
they get a little miffed when they can't "just send a copy" to someone. 
   But only a little.  They'd obviously rather have *everything* be 
DRM-Free, but they "get it" when it's not.

I've explained how they can avoid it, and out of the 3 family members 
I've explained DRM to, they decide it's not worth messing with trying to 
live a "DRM-Free lifestyle", so to speak.

Nate