564
Met a nice lady at the grocery store
(lemmy.ml)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
564 points (92.1% liked)
Linux
48375 readers
1276 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
Assuming this story is true, Linux is going to be a nightmare for that woman. It’s come a long way, but it’s still not as dead simple as it needs to be for non-technical elderly people.
tbh: she probably clicks on the thing that says "INTERNET" and thats it. I've been setting up a few computers in my family for people 50+ and they mostly don't even know the name of the program they use and mix it all up. I then just install a program and prefix the shortcut with the service. Like "MAIL Outlook", "INTERNET Firefox" so they know where to go.
I've seen stripped down versions of Android on phones intended specifically for the elderly. I wonder if anyone has approached desktop Linux development like that?
Couldn't disagree more. Do non-techies need anything more than a browser nowadays? Maybe a word processor? The process of turning on and opening a web browser on Mint are practically no different from Windows. Hardware will plug and play just the same. Using printers is equally intuitive (ie, not very). In fact, I can find firefox on GNOME by just pressing the Win key and typing "internet" or "browser".
Both are probably equally likely to run into incomprehensible tech problems that require techie intervention.
Just connecting to the internet on various networks can be confusing. And they're going to need to periodically upgrade system packages, or they'll be vulnerable to various exploits. Even if you set up auto-upgrades, occasionally some things will need manual intervention.
I still don't see how it's any more confusing than Windows. Cinnamon does it almost exactly the same way as windows, and typically detects network sign-in requirements better. Auto-updates work absolutely fine, and again I've not seen them need manual intervention with any more frequency than Windows.