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CoolBee · 07-01-2009, 04:06 PM

I'm slightly geeky (let's say - to most people I'm an ubergeek, but to geeks I am as a newborn babe), but I would say stick with Windows if you are not prepared to consult a user manual and rely on phoning up your slightly geeky mate to do everything for you.

One of my friends - an absolutely typically computer-illiterate person such as almost everyone in the known universe is
(you know, the type who take their computers to well know pc superstores to have a virus scan and don't understand the simplest thing like how their 60-day free trial of MS Office actually stops functioning if you don't pay and who can't figure out how to change a printer ink and who don't know the difference between Windows and Word - ask em most normal people don't!)
- had Linux (Ubuntu) installed on her computer by a (now-ex) geeky mate and was forever doing my head in phoning me up to ask me how to do anything (install Yahoo Messenger, Install Windows LIve, run Skype. Why don't my headphones work? Why can't my friend hear me talking? Why can't I find this file I downloaded off this email my friend sent me.... etc etc - aargh).

If she ever tried to google anything to attempt to fix it herself, there were always
'special instructions' for Linux users that she couldn't understand past the first line.

I could never explain to her over the phone, had to trek over to hers, climb to the nth storey of her building where she lives, and it always seems to involve fiddling with paths somewhere and ts really hard to find anything in the file structure.

People sent her emails with things on that wouldn't open - she didn't care what the OS is as long as it just works without thinking like Windows does.

As for crashing, Linux crashes CONSTANTLY out here, every time it gets a bit warm (and today it was 42C 110F) and won't reboot for an hour or more. Linux-runners seem to have to keep a fan or 3 pointed at their 'puter 24/7 right through May - October because the internals don't cut it.

I finally persuaded her to invest in a Windows lappie and it works like a dream and my blood pressure is not tested on a thrice-weekly basis (I'm not patient when it comes to computer users and personally think a compulsory test like a driving licence should be issued before you are allowed one).

I personally am using an Acer Aspire One with Windows XP. It's crashed about 3 times in 10 months and the two most serious crashes were related to some Internet Explorer update.

07-01-2009, 04:06 PM	#51 (permalink)
CoolBee Family Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 2,044	I'm slightly geeky (let's say - to most people I'm an ubergeek, but to geeks I am as a newborn babe), but I would say stick with Windows if you are not prepared to consult a user manual and rely on phoning up your slightly geeky mate to do everything for you. One of my friends - an absolutely typically computer-illiterate person such as almost everyone in the known universe is (you know, the type who take their computers to well know pc superstores to have a virus scan and don't understand the simplest thing like how their 60-day free trial of MS Office actually stops functioning if you don't pay and who can't figure out how to change a printer ink and who don't know the difference between Windows and Word - ask em most normal people don't!) - had Linux (Ubuntu) installed on her computer by a (now-ex) geeky mate and was forever doing my head in phoning me up to ask me how to do anything (install Yahoo Messenger, Install Windows LIve, run Skype. Why don't my headphones work? Why can't my friend hear me talking? Why can't I find this file I downloaded off this email my friend sent me.... etc etc - aargh). If she ever tried to google anything to attempt to fix it herself, there were always 'special instructions' for Linux users that she couldn't understand past the first line. I could never explain to her over the phone, had to trek over to hers, climb to the nth storey of her building where she lives, and it always seems to involve fiddling with paths somewhere and ts really hard to find anything in the file structure. People sent her emails with things on that wouldn't open - she didn't care what the OS is as long as it just works without thinking like Windows does. As for crashing, Linux crashes CONSTANTLY out here, every time it gets a bit warm (and today it was 42C 110F) and won't reboot for an hour or more. Linux-runners seem to have to keep a fan or 3 pointed at their 'puter 24/7 right through May - October because the internals don't cut it. I finally persuaded her to invest in a Windows lappie and it works like a dream and my blood pressure is not tested on a thrice-weekly basis (I'm not patient when it comes to computer users and personally think a compulsory test like a driving licence should be issued before you are allowed one). I personally am using an Acer Aspire One with Windows XP. It's crashed about 3 times in 10 months and the two most serious crashes were related to some Internet Explorer update.