My mom is 70 and is thinking about going with Linux Mint. She's on the fence. What should I tell her to convince her?

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LD Wyze

Re: My mom is 70 and is thinking about going with Linux Mint. She's on the fence. What should I tell her to convince her

Post by LD Wyze »

Hope she doesn't have to map network drives to any storage on her home network... because that has been a horror show for me with Linux ANYTHING.

Tell her stick with Windows so you're not pulling your hair out doing Linux Mint support every day all day lol
Petermint
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Re: My mom is 70 and is thinking about going with Linux Mint. She's on the fence. What should I tell her to convince her

Post by Petermint »

This discussion is running for a while. What does your mum want for her 71st? :D
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BG405
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Re: My mom is 70 and is thinking about going with Linux Mint. She's on the fence. What should I tell her to convince her

Post by BG405 »

LD Wyze wrote:Hope she doesn't have to map network drives to any storage on her home network... because that has been a horror show for me with Linux ANYTHING.

Tell her stick with Windows so you're not pulling your hair out doing Linux Mint support every day all day lol
What is the problem, exactly? I use network shares on my Linux machines all the time; I might be able to help with this.

Windows networking is (unfortunately) not so easy.
Dell Inspiron 1525 - LM17.3 CE 64-------------------Lenovo T440 - Manjaro KDE with Mint VMs
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jglen490

Re: My mom is 70 and is thinking about going with Linux Mint. She's on the fence. What should I tell her to convince her

Post by jglen490 »

whm1974 wrote:
jglen490 wrote:Unless someone has been directly affected by a Windows-related problem (i.e., a ransomware attack, on a Windows platform), they will not be convinced through fear tactics. I't's better to sell them by showing their favorite programs (or perfectly functional equivalents) at work on a Linux box. That's the one reason I can't get my wife to go with Linux. She said to me,"Will it run my favorite Solitaire program?", which Goodsol - not available on Linux at all. She's seen me using a browser, checking email, watching videos, even the user interface on my Linux box looks familiar, and it's all good for her, except her favorite Solitaire program. So I'm her Windows sys admin as well as my own Linux guy. Oh, well, the things we do for love.

I've checked with the Goodsol guy - a one man show - and he has enough fun keeping up with Windows and Apple and is not inclined to add Linux support to his repertoire. I can't blame him - it's his business model, and (again) my wife's favorite Solitaire game, for 20 years!

Linux is not happening for Rose. And that's the story that a lot of people will face and no alphabet soup of Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce, LMDE, KDE, or Gnome will overcome that.
I have you tried using Wine or PlayonLinux? That might work.
I have tried both for a different Windows program - Sketchup. It almost worked. I'd rather be her sys admin ...
jglen490

Re: My mom is 70 and is thinking about going with Linux Mint. She's on the fence. What should I tell her to convince her

Post by jglen490 »

So back to the OP!

The only thing you can do, and I am her age, is to pick as closely a possible the Linux versions of her programs, load them on your Linux box and show her. You can slide the problems with Windows into the conversation, but she will likely not be concerned, so just show her, let her know that upon transfer, her scores may not make the transition - be honest.

If she's interested in what she sees on your machine, then you can probably take over and if she goes out shopping save her "score" files, wipe Windows, load Linux and the demoed programs, and if possible stick her score files in where they should fit. Test the programs, give her machine back with her new Linux environment.

If it's her birthday, give her a new machine, too. after all, this is your Mom :D
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Re: My mom is 70 and is thinking about going with Linux Mint. She's on the fence. What should I tell her to convince her

Post by vipergg »

whm1974 wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 7:12 pm
Petermint wrote:What do you need Chrome for?
I used Chrome to watch streaming videos, as I have less issues then FF.
You want to see a fast browser go get Opera for Linux . Renders everything a lot faster and I have few issues with it . I use it almost all the time and never use Chromium .
whm1974
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Re: My mom is 70 and is thinking about going with Linux Mint. She's on the fence. What should I tell her to convince her

Post by whm1974 »

vipergg wrote: Sat Apr 14, 2018 8:38 pm
whm1974 wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 7:12 pm
Petermint wrote:What do you need Chrome for?
I used Chrome to watch streaming videos, as I have less issues then FF.
You want to see a fast browser go get Opera for Linux . Renders everything a lot faster and I have few issues with it . I use it almost all the time and never use Chromium .
I haven't used Opera in years but it used to be my main browser back in the late 90's with Windows and BeOS. Maybe I'll take a look.
vikash16

Re: My mom is 70 and is thinking about going with Linux Mint. She's on the fence. What should I tell her to convince her

Post by vikash16 »

Do partition hard drive and install Windows and Mint Both :P
tonybaker45

Re: My mom is 70 and is thinking about going with Linux Mint. She's on the fence. What should I tell her to convince her

Post by tonybaker45 »

I think the best feature of Linux is that it is FREE!!! No more costly "updates" and worrying about what virus software to use. No ore slow speed because of bloatware. Most aged people only use pc for email, Skype and searching the web, all of which are just as good on Linux.
Be sure to put shortcuts on her desktop for her commonly used programs and she will never look back......
SwanRider

Re: My mom is 70 and is thinking about going with Linux Mint. She's on the fence. What should I tell her to convince her

Post by SwanRider »

I wouldn't tell her anything. I would just show her how easy it is to use if you have it on a lap top or PC. My wife is not as old as your mum but not very techie at all, so rather than explain things to her I just showed her what it was like on my laptop when I installed it and once she saw it in action then she wanted it and I got rid of windows on hers. I tend to do all the updates for her so she doesn't have to remember her pass word and set up Thunderbird for her so she gets her emails as usual. If you can't do that, do that for her (apart from thunderbird) get her to use a password she'll find easy to remember (even if she does have to write it down). Good luck and I hope she is enjoying it now.
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