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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 9th, 2023

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  • Well me and the other guy were talking about laymen, and that’s context this conversation is happening in.

    And no they didn’t install Windows, but there’s also really on one “Windows” and spending more got you more but not different so even if you got ripped off at least you knew you weren’t missing something. That means they could just buy any old Windows laptop and call it a day. Now, if we just default to Ubuntu and ask that ASUS and HP and whoever else start selling laptops with that by default that’d certainly be a start but it would, nonetheless, be a hard sell. We should still try, but it’s still gunna be hard.


  • You just gave four options and an “etc.” and dude that’s not going to make anyone any more comfortable. If people don’t have friends who can help them, and a lot of people don’t, then how are they supposed to even know to ask for Linux, the set of OSs which have a reputation for being finnicky? They’re just supposed to grab a USB stick and learn what ISOs are, jump in the BIOS and mess with boot orders, and- do you not see the problem?

    I agree that people should learn this shit. I’m not in IT but I deal with my computer myself, or a mechanic but I fix my own car, or a plumber but I have no problems dealing with certain issues here but a lot of people aren’t like that and are in fact actively discouraged from cracking into their electronics or their cars or their homes. It sucks, but you gotta deal with that before naming off distros when they don’t even know what a distro even is.


  • People like closed and predictable environments. The step is not to tell them to “get over it” but to instead show them carefully why things are safe. Also to be able to hand them a machine and go “here, it has Ubuntu” because, even though we know it’s easy, asking someone to put it on their computer is not goingnto happen.

    Part of why people use Windows, too, is for compatibility. Why would someone go through all that just to end up not being able to use what they know? I’m not even saying they shouldn’t, and may the alternatives are actually better, but now it’s getting weird. And even asking them to pick a distro I mean which one do we decide is “the distro for the public”?

    Again, I’m not saying people in this computer age not knowing how basic computer stuff works is a good thing. It is the reality however, and while it needs to change I’m not sure how to go about it.


  • Did you set it up for her? A normal person is not going to grab a USB and get Linux going on their own computer. And then there are all the distros where even savvy people can’t agree on what’s best and will be like “oh Mint and Ubuntu are both good options” and even having to choose and commit would be a big deal for most people, especially if they don’t have anyone who can help them with it.

    It’s not about actually using it so much as it is the barrier to entry. I know that we know it’s actually not that difficult or crazy, but the layman sees basically any computer stuff as magic.



  • iMacs in schools weren’t for nothing, and neither are the weirdly good deals on Apple products for students and teachers. At a time when people are learning about these programs and using the machines pretty aggressively the good product company comes along and gives them affordable-ish equipment with a nice stable OS.

    Tim Cook Apple being kinda underwhelming and being way more expensive than Steve Jobs Apple is not helping their image but they still have decent deals and are able to ride said image for a very long time thanks largely to Jobs understanding what you’re talking about.

    Back to Microsoft, they don’t seem to understand that the general consensus on them has mostly always been that Windows is cheap and not amazing but certain programs run on only it. Now they want to make it cost a tonne of money/have ads? Jobs’ Apple products where expensive but they were high quality. Microsoft just can’t pull the same shit with their dogshit legacy-coded 30 year old hack-job OS and consistently mediocre-to-bad products. And they have to do it while competing with Linux amongst the very people who were doing most of the loud fan-boying for their shit for so long!





  • Like three days work from home? They’ll claim that people are using Monday and Friday to make long weekends for themselves.

    I still have the stupid words of an old manager, in reference to the start of covid when a department of two started working from home: “How will I know they’re getting work done?”

    How will you know? I dunno, because there are deadlines and the work is submitted electronically so you’ll be able to tell in the exact same way you always have? And if they’re doing what’s expected and even have extra time leftover then good for them!