451 CAOS Theory 
A blog for the enterprise open source community
Babies, grandmas and Linux
Jay Lyman, May 19, 2008 @ 5:56 pm ETIt’s not often that I can go to a friend or community gathering and get the chance to talk open source with new people. Some of them work in tech or related industries and know at least what Linux or open source is, vaguely. But last weekend, while attending a baby shower, it went beyond the usual, flimsy open source familiarity. I met a man who actually uses Linux.
Amid talk of baby sign language, gifts of tiny clothing and footwear, we were talking Linux. Yep. I finally ran into someone who can truly understand why it can be so limiting to work in Windows without multiple workspaces. He was a Kubuntu user, and while he had forced is wife to run some Linux in the past (a couple years before it was as easy as it is today by the look on her face), she was on Windows and it was working, ‘for now.’
His grandmother, however, was a completely different story. She had to send out a mass mailing to a few hundred people or so. Despite a nice desktop computer with 24-inch screen, she was still struggling with Outlook. The multiple blind CCs were read as spam, and all of her grandmotherly greetings were bounced back. She was left sending them individually, when my new friend realized he could do that a lot easier in Linux. Being a former software engineer, he figured if he couldn’t do it by default in Linux, he could just write the code he needed to get the job done. Pretty amazing, I thought.
With a fresh Linux install, a little CLI and a dash of Python, Grandma was up and running with a simple procedure for her mass mailing. The bonus was the tech-savvy grandson was no longer dealing with Windows support issues. Instead, Grandma now lets him know about any issues (like the time the bootup selection somehow served up the text mode :0), and he can more efficiently handle them with his own Linux know-how and machine.
It’s just another demonstration that Linux is making some headway on the mainstream desktop, and how making the switch can make computing a bit more rewarding and, dare I say, more fun. I couldn’t help but think that the new baby we were there to celebrate would probably be running a Linux desktop computer before too long.
Comments (4) Categories: Software
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here is my Linux at large story:
My dad is in his 70s, using a computer for 7 years.
His desktop is Kubuntu/Win XP (you know..for games) and he has an old
T22 laptop which runs Xubuntu.
His change to Linux was easy since he was using Firefox/Thunderbird, Skype, VLC, OpenOffice on Win.
My mom got a 2nd hand laptop which runs PCLinuxOS, never used a computer before.
The curve is no worse than it was showing my dad.
Her email is Gmail though and there is a nice Firefox extension which tells
her how many emails she has.
My 6 year old only knows Windows because its where he goes for his PC games
and everything else is Linux. (We dual boot also)
My wife loves her EEE laptop running EeePCLinuxOS.
She worked with computers at work her whole life until she stayed to have our kids.
She’s been using my laptop for years. She cant really tell browsers apart nor does she care.
The Linux desktop became good enough for my folks with Ubuntu 7.04 and PCLinuxOS
in my eyes. It is easy enough for grandparents to use and my dad isnt above showing his friends
the eye candy that he has with Compiz.
Family and friends know I only do Linux tech support (I feign ignorance but honestly I dont want to deal with the same
problems over and over again…spyware, malware, virus, trojans,etc..) so eventually some picked up the LiveCD’s I have at home and tried it out.
Never forced anyone, never preached. They all knew that my parents dont worry about the usual Windows problems and some had enough and asked me to install
that Linux thing. I have 7 other family members and friends using Linux. All prefer KDE over GNOME but two are using XFCE because they have P2-P3’s and two have
dual boots since they need one Win apps/or games.
The amount of tech support I do for these 12 or so machines is less now than I used to
do for just my dad a few years ago when he was on XP.
When I have the chance I have another 4-5 old machines I promised friends
I would revive for them. Everyone has someone who wants to give them a
‘barely used computer’ which ends up being 5-7 years old and after seeing my dad’s T22 purr, they would rather recycle their old one for their 2nd computer
rather than buy a new one.
Robbie
It’s always a good idea to giv eyor old computers to the people who have just started with it .