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linuxxx
7y

So, since I hear from a lot of people (on here and irl) that Linux has a 'very high learning curve', let me share my experiences with the first time my dad touched Linux (Elementary OS) without me interfering at all! (keep in mind that he is very a-technical)

*le me boots the system* (I already did setup a user account for him and gave him the password).

Dad: *enters password and presses enter*
Me: "Hmm that went faster than expected."
Dad: "Uhm I know how to login son, it's not that hard and pretty obvious".
Me: "Alright, why don't you try to open up the default word documents editor on here! I'll be right back!"
Me: *Goes away and returns after a minute*.
Dad: *already a few test sentences typed in LibreOffice writer* it's going pretty well :)!
Me: "Oo how did you find that?!"
Dad: "Well, there's a thingy that says 'applications' so I clicked in and found it in the "Office" section, do you think I am blind or something?!"
Me: 😐. uhm no but I just didn't think you'd find it that quickly. Now try to install Chromium browser! *thinking: he'll fail this one for sure* I'll be right back :).
Me: *returns again after a minute or so*
Dad: *already searching for stuff through Chromium*
Me: "wait, how the hell did you do that so quickly, it's not the easiest thingy for most people".
Dad: "Jesus, it's not that hard! I went to the application browsing thingy, typed 'software' and then a sorta software store icon showed up so I clicked it and it opened a windows with a search bar saying something like 'search for applications/software'. clicked in it, typed 'chromium', saw it coming up, there was a very clear 'install' button, it asked for my password, I put it in and after a little it gave a notification that it was installed. Then I went to that application browsing thingy again and typed Chromium. Then I hit enter because it selected an icon called chromium...."
Me: O.o. Okay this is going very good, now open an email client and login to your email address!
Dad: *goes to application browsing thingy, types 'email', evolution icon shows up, dad clicks it, email address setup steps show up and dad follows them quickly. After about a minute, everything is setup.

I expected this to be a hard process for someone who dealt with Windows his entire life but damn, I underestimated it.
Asked him if he found it easy/what he liked about it:
"Well, it's very clear where I can find everything, default browser/email/word document editor programs are easy to find and that's about all I need so yeah, great system!"

I am proud of you, dad!

undefined

dad

first time linux

okay that went better than expected
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  • 73
    7y
    Wooo!! Go dad!!! 🎉
  • 9
    7y
    @demiko mine too
  • 20
    7y
    @demiko Awhh :/. Idk for me it just proves that it can be quite easy to use for novice users :)
  • 13
    7y
    @demiko notice that I said 'can be' and not 'is' :)
  • 9
    7y
    ugh so cuuute
  • 5
    7y
    @marthulu How is this cute? =)
  • 14
    7y
    Damn, I wish my father was as resourceful and responsive like that. I mean I'm confident my dad has the ability to figure things out (and he has indeed proven that), but I feel like his mind is so slow that I lose patience too easily, and then of course the 'lesson' just takes a turn for the worse at that point : /

    But he doesn't come from a technical background or industry that relies on computers throughout the late 1900s. And his personal 'learning curve', also needs to account for the fact that he has smoked weed for the past 40 years straight lol ; )
  • 2
    7y
    @demiko that's what she said
  • 17
    7y
    @greenhouse Is that where your username comes from? 'greenhouse' :P
  • 32
    7y
    my mom, on an android phone

    WHERE IS THE CALL PEOPLE THING

    mom its written right underneath it says 'people'

    THIS IS WAY TOO COMPLICATED I WANT MY OLD PHONE BACK
  • 12
    7y
    @BindView damn 😐 my parents both have a smartphone and understand the principle of rooting Oo
  • 3
    7y
    @linuxxx hahah I'll never tell. But I'm sure some quick googling or maybe some social engineering will provide you the answer ; )
  • 3
    7y
    @BindView love it!!!
    The exact words of my mother and grandmother!
  • 3
    7y
    Tbh for general usage you can be better off with a user friendly Linux distro, theres no need to pay for Windows when most of what you do is web based and the odd written document.
  • 2
    7y
    @dean Linux usage is more of a (next to finding it awesome etc anyways) an ethical choice for me but yah my parents love it!
  • 2
    7y
    @dean yeah especially with word processors, excel, power point, etc. in businesses, are now mostly chosen to be worked on as cloud based and collaborative, like with google docs and drive or whatever.
  • 5
    7y
    @greenhouse Fun fact, my parents don't want to use much related to google except for their search sometimes. They want to stay out of the google/fb/twitter etc bubble (without talking to me, this time :P)
  • 7
    7y
    @runfrodorun Yup it's pretty easy to use! My parents + sister use it and they all find it pretty easy to use, even without any guides etc :)
  • 3
    7y
    @runfrodorun Fully agree, damnit!
  • 4
    7y
    @runfrodorun @linuxxx ok so I was thinking about taking the next step with Linux and trying to pick out a distro more geared towards pentesting.

    So I'm going to switch over from ubuntu (which is what I use for everyday as well this is the environment that I run my server side projects on; with nginx)...

    So I was thinking about going with 'Kali' to start getting into the pentesting stuff.... any recommendations from you guys?
  • 4
    7y
    @linuxxx yea of course, theres plenty of other reasons to choose Linux and to me it's pointless paying for something that you aren't getting much out of.

    @greenhouse yea I've used Google docs for a couple of things and it's really not that far from ms word ok it's lacking in a couple features but chances are there is an add-on that you can get. I haven't tried the others but I can assume they will be similar quality to Google docs.
  • 2
    7y
    @linuxxx [re: parents don't like google], yeah I agree I actually just remembered that most of the older generation I come in contact with, are only comfortable with (or scared to leave) ms office. It's a tough blocker to get around, because it's such a familiar name. And unless you knew about emacs or vi before hand, then it was definitely ms office that would most familiar. It's tough to promote that change or to push that next step, even though the exact ms office interface is almost completely the same with the new office tools of today.
  • 4
    7y
    Luckily my parents like libreoffice a lot @greenhouse!
  • 4
    7y
    @runfrodorun @linuxxx well I guess I was reviewing other distros and considering the pre installed tools or libraries, and maybe some modded drivers (for example, that allow you to utilize the network card in an alternate way), that come with pros and cons to consider for each distro.

    Also some distros work well as boot disks and some allow rights to kernel protected files of other OS's under the hood (because they boot before some hardware or something like that, not really sure).

    I've also read that some are for newbs and some will take a half day to even simply install...

    i would say I'm mid-level... BS in computer science, 3 years developing with corporate world, 3 years in small startups, work heavily with unix CLI, well educated with the OSI 7 layer network model architecture (ie. physical layer, data link layer, network layer, etc.)... I used to work with VOIP at the lower c++ level.

    Sorry I know that's a lot : )
    any other suggestions based on that additional info? : ))
  • 5
    7y
    @linuxxx the thing is - most people have a double digit IQ, so for them it's illogical to try something so simple and obvious. Thus they say that Linux is for geeks and etc.
  • 3
    7y
    @Noob do you have a good white paper or web link or something that discusses more on 2 digit IQ and potential habits, etc. that's very interesting, thanks!
  • 2
    7y
    The learning curve is in the terminal and the dev env which honestly is the only reason I use Linux. Because #$!&$#@+-$!!!$# project can't be compiled in Windows without a Linux emulator....

    And thus the journey into Korn/Shell/Bash begins...
  • 4
    7y
    @billgates you do use linux? damn, bill gates uses linux?! :P
  • 2
    7y
    Well it's in Win 10 for a reason....
  • 3
    7y
    @billgates Oh not natively 😭 :P
  • 1
    7y
    @linuxxx what if I used Linux?
  • 3
    7y
    @realdonaldtrump Authorized by the US government? :P
  • 2
    7y
    @linuxxx I used a VM before and have to use it at work. I've also had to use Cygwin...
  • 2
    7y
    @billgates Sounds good!
  • 1
    7y
    @linuxxx not sure... I was told it's a good way to communicate without getting caught...
  • 3
    7y
    @realdonaldtrump Well, let's just keep it on.... you're fucked.
  • 1
    7y
    @linuxxx 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱 tell me who should I for this time to fix this?!?!?!?!
  • 2
    7y
    @KidLaser Check your Riot.im :)
  • 3
    7y
    @linuxxx your parent's have more skills than most people I know irl, damn you've got some killer genes flowing through your veins haha. I'm still trying to get my sister to ditch the iPhone 😅
  • 1
    7y
    @KidLaser lol why you trying to get your sister to ditch the iPhone?.... so she could have an even harder time doing the simplest of tasks ; )
  • 2
    7y
    @greenhouse My sister ditched iPhone for android. She finds Android easier to use!
  • 3
    7y
    @linuxxx really?!? Damn! Well I guess thats an entirely new rant topic on its own : )
  • 2
    7y
    @greenhouse Shes used android before, she's just all about the camera quality and other bs excuses she can use for her bf to buy her the newest model to stay up-to-par with her friends iPhones...it's sickening to watch and whenever something goes awry I'm the first ome called to fix it, I can't fucking do it man, android is one thing but iOS is a fucking messy unknown labyrinth to me.
  • 5
    7y
    I don't get how so many people find that hard to understand. And they don't even dare to try something, no they have to ask a tech guy. Like wtf what's the worst thing that could happen clicking around and for example trying to install programs? I mean you could delete a few files if you are dumb enough to click the delete button but why do people not just try it themselves? How can it be that so many people don't understand how to install programs? In most installers there's literally two buttons: "Next" or "Install" and "Cancel" and a text that says "Click next to continue or cancel to end the installation". These are computers. That's a box of metal and some plastic. That shit (hopefully) won't kill you if you accidently press a wrong button. Sorry had to get this out. Thanks devRant.
  • 4
    7y
    @linuxxx meanwhile my mom said "emojo" today...
  • 3
    7y
    Oh man your dad is a ninja xD
  • 1
    7y
    Until a bunch of unintelligible gibbering errors appear.
  • 2
    7y
    @cleveloper 😆 Well that settles it, I'm calling them emojo's from now on haha.
  • 1
    7y
    @BindView that's my case! Hahahaha
  • 1
    7y
    Great story, thanks for sharing.
  • 2
    7y
    @linuxxx
    It is a BIG different between smart novice users and dumb novice users
  • 2
    7y
    My dad (54) installed linux a week ago and he has also been using Windows his entire life. He wanted a portable Mint Sonya distro but the autoinstaller app was only familiar with the previous Mint iteration so he went manual mode. He ended up overwriting his windows boot sector and the computer ended up unable to boot as soon as he took the USB stick out. Had to go look up how to restore default boot for regular use and reinstall grub on the already installed instance on the USB stick. The problem resolution made my whole day a little brighter :D.
  • 2
    7y
    My first encounter with Linux was so good!

    I entered a class late and everyone was already doing something and I was left with a blank terminal..

    "Umm, what is it they're using?.. Matlab? Fuck it, I'll just type 'matlab' and see what happens..
    Fuck yeah I'm in!" :D
  • 1
    7y
    @demiko my mom's pretty adept at using Android (at least for things like calling and WhatsApp) but sit her in front of a desktop and she's lost
  • 1
    7y
    @greenhouse Same goes for me and my parents though, we can't work with iOS!
  • 2
    7y
    My mom manages to send emails using her ipad. Well kind of. They get delivered, but most of the times the message body is just written in the subject. Like a lot of words...
  • 1
    7y
    @Wack xD
  • 1
    7y
    now try to connect to a secure wifi *gives paper with credentials, leaves, returns after three days, finds dad commited suicide*
    =D maybe a bad example, but so are yours. launching applications is not exactly "using the system".

    or "now copy a file to this write-protected folder. you'll have to turn on its write permissions first"
  • 2
    7y
    @Midnigh-shcode That's bs. Using a system is pretty much what the user does with it. If I write code on my system then writing code on it is using it. If you only check email, write documents and browse the web then that's using your system. No offense or anything :)
  • 1
    7y
    @linuxxx i agree but also this kind of usage doesn't even come near any of the "os usability criteria" that are really os' responsibility
  • 1
    7y
    @demiko Thank you.
  • 3
    7y
    @demiko most people haven't looked at the root of their Android devices 😁
  • 2
    7y
    My mom calls me every 2-3months complaining she forgot how to copy and paste to word. She ends up asking me to do it. I do it and send via mail or share it across Google docs. Then I spend the next hour or so on the phone explaining how to access the document I sent.
  • 2
    7y
    My mom picked up Ubuntu and ChromeOS pretty quickly, and says it's great. Has everything.
  • 1
    7y
    @Hari welcome!
  • 2
    7y
    Who the fuck said Linux is hard? Hell, I'd say it's easier than windows since you don't have to deal with forced updates that format your entire fucking pc
  • 1
    7y
    Great story, but your dad seems pretty quick to put in his password to something he doesn't know much about. Be careful!
  • 2
    7y
    Your dads logical skills are better than the most superiors I had in my whole dev-life! 🙃
  • 0
    7y
    Dad of my GF had the same exp. with him last year. But back in the days it was more complicated in linux. In alot cases it is even easier than windows nowadays.

    So the rumor is from the "old days".
  • 1
    7y
    Nahh it is hard for some people... Most of the people think of stuff like freeBSD or arch if you talk about Linux and not about Ubuntu, mint and Debian I think this is why they don't want to switch
  • 1
    7y
    @NoahKr Welcome! You're from the same country as me and have the exact same first name and initial last name letters as someone from a school I went to O.o
  • 0
    7y
    @linuxxx, @NoahKr is obviously your bot ++ account lol.
  • 1
    7y
    @Dacexi Yeah right :P
  • 2
    7y
    This reminds me of the first time I introduced Ubuntu to my dad, he literally discovered everything by himself, and when I saw him using the system like normal I was like O.o!

    Me: "How did you adapt so quickly to it?"
    Dad: "Son, when you were little, I was the one who started windows using MS DOS and I started all those little games you played, I think I know how to explore stuff on a computer"
    Me: "Oh... Right."
  • 1
    7y
    Exactly my experience! 75 years old dad first contact with linux went so flawless that the only questions he comes around with aren't trivial for me to answer anymore.
  • 0
    7y
    @billgates has been a few years but even the iPhone does look a lot like this if you are that close to the metal 😉
  • 0
    7y
    elementary is one of the best UX's throughout the Linux lands. Especially for Mac users.
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