Stop being elitist, spread Linux!

Linux needs to grow. Stop telling people it's 'tech-y' or acting like you're more advanced for using it, you are scaring away people. Linux Mint can be used by a senile person perfectly.

Explain shortly the benefits, 'faster, more secure, easier to use, main choices of professionals and free'. Ask questions that let you know if they need to dual boot, 'do you use Adobe, anti-cheat games, or Microsoft Office', 'how new is your computer', 'do you use a Mac'.

And most importantly, offer to help them install.

They don't understand the concept of distros, just suggest Linux Mint LTS Cinnamon unless they're curious.

That's it, spread Linux to as many people as possible. The larger the marketshare, the better support we ALL get. We can fight enshittification. Take the time to spread it but don't force it on anyone.

AND STOP SCARING PEOPLE AWAY.
Linux has no advertising money, it's up to us.

Offer family members or friends your help or copy and paste the below

how to install linux: 1) copy down your windows product key 2) backup your files to a harddrive 3) install the linux mint cinnamon iso from the linux mint website 4) use etcher (download from its website) to put the iso on a usb flash drive 5) go into bios 6) boot from the usb 7) erase the storage and install 8) press update all in the update manager 9) celebrate. it takes 15 minutes.

edit:
LET ME RE-STATE, DO NOT FORCE IT ON ANYONE.

and if someone is at the level of ignorance (not in a derogatory fashion) that they dont know what a file even is genuinely dont bother unless theyre your parents cause youll be tech support for their 'how do i install the internet' questions.

conciselyverbose ,

If you're actually expecting people to transition without asking for help on a regular basis, you don't know people.

You just made yourself their IT guy for life.

krolden ,
@krolden@lemmy.ml avatar

This

hendrik , (edited )

And I think there isn't a good solution to this. Ideally you would enable people to make good choices for themselves, know how to handle the tools they use...

Interesingly enough they come to me to fix their printer and antivirus anyways, and I have no idea of what I'm doing since I haven't used Windows in like 15 years, except for updating my GPS and filling out time-sheets for work and stuff like that. And in the meantime Microsoft switches things around every few years and bolts on a new interface onto their office suite and then moves it to the cloud. I don't think it would make any difference if my relatives were using Linux in the first place. They would still need to ask someone to fix their printer drivers and handle big version upgrades. And if it was me at the other end, it would be way more convenient to me to help them.

I stopped advertising Linux to people who didn't ask me to... I'll tell them I use different things on my computer and why this software is way better. If they pick up on that and want to try out of their own motivation, I'll gladly help.

VampyreOfNazareth ,

The unpaid intern of tech

drwankingstein ,

I generally disagree with trying to get people to use linux now. Im seeing a lot of people leaving linux and getting turned off by the idea of it.

Aside from outliers like Android and Chrome OS, I do not think Linux is in a suitable state for non-techy people to use unfortunately. I'm really hoping PopOS will be able to change things in the future, however as it stands I really don't think it is ready for prime time.

Users expect things that kind of just work and Linux Mint has not been that experience for me. I found the app store to be kind of annoying to use and complicated. The settings app were not very well laid out and miscellaneous stuff like that, which kind of ruins the experience.

Meanwhile, there are just general Linux issues to accessibility becoming worse and worse instead of better. You have issues like we still don't have a distro with good wine integration so people can use the apps they actually need to use. The apps that we do have natively, are oftentimes relatively... janky. If you're comparing Libreoffice to Microsoft Office, the experience is just not the same, even if the technical capability is.

EDIT: I want Linux to succeed just as much as anybody else. In fact, I think I might want it to succeed more because I absolutely detest maintaining Windows installs. However, lying about the state of Linux and being dishonest about it is not the way to go about this. We should be honest with all of its issues, so to speak. So that way we can strive to make them better instead of ignoring them and sweeping them under the rug for the people we tell to trial and to find instead.

hendrik ,

If I might ask: Who is leaving and what for? Mac? I've seen some developers buy the newer M2/M3 Macbooks. I think they're nice. But not nice enough to pay the price for one with a decent amount of RAM and storage myself.

ares35 ,

i have a client in need of a new laptop to replace an aging windows one with multiple issues. a $280 sale of a 12th gen 1215u with 8gb and 250gb ssd staring at him, and way more than they 'need'. but his wife, a k12 teacher, will insist upon a macbook when she retires and has to give hers back to the district. so they're looking at about $1000 instead, minimum.

hendrik , (edited )

Mmh, everyone is allowed to make stupid choices. I've told multiple people that drawers in the kitchen and in your wardrobe are awesome. That you don't need the Adobe suite to cut your 1.5 travel videos a year, let alone a $1200 phone... Stop using software when we have way better alternatives that are also easier to use. Many people don't listen. And they're entitled not to listen to me, it's their money, life and choices.

pete ,

Third best enterprise OS.

tsonfeir ,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

Well, it’s better than Windows, so besides Linux what is better than macOS?

pete ,

Not in an enterprise setting, so patato potato

tsonfeir ,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

Depends on the enterprise.

tsonfeir ,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

Is $1900 too much for a blazing fast laptop with 1TB/24GB that will have support for 10 years?

hendrik ,

I'm sorry, I really don't get all the innuendo here. Are we talking about a Macbook or another laptop here that gets support for 10 years? I like to pay about 1200€ for a laptop and it usually lasts me like 6-8 years. But 1 TB SSD is a bit short of what I'm comfortable with. If I configure a M3 Macbook with 24GB of RAM and 2TB of SSD it comes down to 3149€. That is about $3.400 after taxes. Another laptop I really like is the frame.work laptop. The AMD Ryzen 7 should be plenty fast. The price including 32GB of memory and 2 TB of storage is 1918€ or about $2.070 after taxes. And in the years to come you can fix it and upgrade it however you like. So your $1900 sounds about right if it's blazing fast and lasts you 10 years. I just wonder which laptop you're talking about.

tsonfeir ,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

It’s a 15” MacBook Air M2. The closest frame.work laptop I could configure was $5 off from what you said, so I think we are going for the same specs.

I love the framework system. If I was going PC that’s absolutely who I’d go with. All those swappable ports?! I’m drooling.

All of my Apple laptops last a long time. I’m still using my 13” 2013 MacBook Air when I go on vacation. It’s so light and small. I’ve had to replace the battery on it, but I think that’s to be expected.

hendrik , (edited )

Fair enough. Yeah, the framework is a gem. And I learned about the M2 and M3 Macbooks because some people do AI / machine learning stuff on them and they seem to perform exceptionally well. I don't think I'm a Mac guy, I'd probably need Linux to achieve happiness. I haven't kept up but last time I checked M2 support was coming along.

Anyhow, my last two laptops were Thinkpads. They were both good machines, suffered quite some abuse and are still running. The old one is pretty damaged though, display hinges broken and some obvious damage, fan does everything but what it's supposed to do. But it served me well for god knows how long. I think I went through 3 or 4 batteries until I finally replaced that one. The one after that also refuses to die. But it's getting old and slow and I'm not willing to spend the money to upgrade the RAM and also buy a new battery. It didn't last me as long as the one before. I'm just not in love with their current lineup. Next laptop isn't going to be another Thinkpad. Maybe I'll go for a Framework.

drwankingstein ,

I have had multiple friends I've gotten to try linux for a prolonged period of time leave back to windows or mac, (In one case ChromeOS). There are a variety of issues, needing to constantly wrangle to get games working even with lutris and steam, Various accessibility issues, Microsoft office as I mentioned etc.

the general consensus was "it often did most of what they needed it to do, but not all, and often times not well enough"

hendrik , (edited )

Uuh. Yeah I believe you. I can't really empathize with that because on friday I booted the Windows on my laptop and it took like one and a half hours with the fan on maximum and two restarts until it had done the updates of the last three months since I've last used it. And then the Steam main window started flickering like crazy and I had to reboot it once or twice more, fix the boot order since it also messed with that and the graphics issues luckily went away on their own. I like to do development and dabble in electronics projects and that's also so clumsy on windows. You need like 20 different tools to get a task done and windows doesn't come with a single one of them. No git, no proper editor, nothing to mess with firmware files or flash them onto the microcontroller Not even the driver for some really standard USB/Serial chips. You can't read some of the filesystems, it can only extract one or two types of archives and always something gets in your way and messes up your workflow... And speaking of workflows... I really like the unix philosophy, it's soo convenient to use computers with a proper cli. In windows there is no equivalent to that, you're supposed to use a plethora of UI tools, or nowadays use the WSL and just install Linux. And that's just one aspect of what I do on my laptop. Guess it's different for everyone of us. I mean I don't judge. It's just, I've tried both and I just can't imagine how I'd enjoy using Windows. But everyone should make that decision for themselves. (Sorry for rambling on and on. I was really a bit pissed before the weekend. And turns out I still am. The "things have fewer issues on windows" somehow never works out for me.)

drwankingstein ,

oh I absolute hate windows too, personally I can never stop running into issues with it. I have this really bloody stupid issue where every now and then my screen will flicker purple for no reason, AMD driver updates will constantly kick me out of my games with the stupid console open but blank. and so many other idiotic issues. It's weird, it's a;most as if the second you become technologically inclined windows intentionally breaks itself xD

hendrik ,

Hmmh. Something is going on here.

flashgnash ,

This, don't get why people are so set on convincing the world to switch.

Userbase is big enough that support is pretty good, we've all got what we want out of it, why try to push it on people who don't care about technology

BaldProphet ,

People making OS their religion and following one of the Penguin Creeds:

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, installing Linux in the name of Torvalds, Stallman, and the Holy Kernel: Teaching them to use only FOSS software. Amen.

flashgnash ,

See the whole point of Linux to me seems to be to allow user choice.

Windows and Mac are just as valid choices depending on a user's needs

drwankingstein ,

Personally, I want everyone to switch. I help my family all the time with their computing needs. I myself would greatly prefer them running linux all the time, but needs are needs.

jackpot OP ,
@jackpot@lemmy.ml avatar

Offer family members or friends your help or copy and paste the below

how to install linux: 1) copy down your windows product key 2) backup your files to a harddrive 3) install the linux mint cinnamon iso from the linux mint website 4) use rufus (a website) to put the iso on a usb flash drive 5) go into bios 6) boot from the usb 7) erase the storage and install 8) celebrate. it takes 15 minutes.

ares35 ,

step 1 isn't needed for nearly all already-activated windows 10 or 11. microsoft activation servers will 'remember' your pc hardware configuration's hash and its activation state. don't even need to associate the install with a microsoft account either, when reinstalling to the same pc, it just works.

CaptDust , (edited )

I sent this to my mom, she said "I'm not sure what mint cinnamon is, but you'll probably want the oven at 350"

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