It's so funny that having a different theme makes the computer hard to use for some parents. :)
Those people drive cars on the road!
this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2023
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UI/UX 101, my friend.
If people are used to see specific symbols for years is hard for them to use different ones.
There's a reason why floppy disk is still the icon for "save".
Those people drive cars on the road!
Imagine if they change all road signs designs suddenly before you go for a ride.
I wouldn't be overly harsh.
Some logos/images/designs are simply hardwired to the function that they can't remember where the apps are if the logo changes. I'm pretty sure I'll be the same if I use something for 30 years.
My wife changed her Windows work laptop last week. Her Desktop is synced to OneDrive so really she just needs to login. Despite that she was panicking that her PDF's were gone. They weren't, it's just that the new laptop has a newer version of Adobe Reader which uses an updated icon.
Some people are just tech illiterate and the slightest difference can be upsetting. My mum's the same with her phone. Using Google Maps to navigate is an achievement for her and I've been telling her to use it for years. The first time she did she reached her destination literally shaking. She was also amazed with herself that she had done it.
Materia theme or similiar fixes that.
An excellent choice to use Linux Mint! If my parents allowed me to switch their computers to Linux, I would've chosen Linux Mint as well for them. But, I probably wouldn't give them the Windows 10 look.
My mom insisted that it look the same lol. I figured it was a small price to pay to get them off Windows. I still might change it secretly before I leave haha.
I did that about 10 years ago because I got tired of removing malware for them. They haven't had any malware since then.
Same. And also because it kept getting slower for no reason. The only support requests at the beginning were "how do I install this" --> app store, and "it won't boot" --> that took longer because they had turned off the computer during a system update - by holding down the power button. The last one warranted a sticky note on the screen "NEVER turn off the computer during an update".
Same here. Not just my parents, but also some of my aunts and uncles. None of them are particularly tech savvy and none of them have had any major issues.
People who claim that Linux is difficult to use, or not suitable for newbies, have no idea what they're talking about.
Linux just needs to come preinstalled.
People, stop buying windows stuff and then installing linux! Buy Linux: https://linuxpreloaded.com/
At first I read i switched my parents FOR Linux...
Reasonable
I wish linux was my parents.
I wish I had a linux
We have Linux at home!
Linux at home: MS-DOS 5.0 on 5 1/4" floppies
Awesome comment
You would be free to play in the streets.
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I don't believe in making GNU/Linux look exactly like Windows. It's a different OS, and any attempt to fool users will be in vain.
I tell family members: "I don't know anything about Windows/macOS." (Because I don't, at this point.) "I can only help you if you use what I use." Usually, they stop asking me for help, and that's great for me. If they say yes, I install Fedora with GNOME and whatever applications they expect to use. After a brief explanation of how GNOME works, people generally get used to it and are satisfied.
I share my laptop with Mom. It runs GNU Guix System with GNOME. She uses it to run Chrome for stuff she can't get on her tablet. She's used to it at this point.
Get ready to address hard to debug issues in the future op.
Got my dad on Mint for a few years now. That me reminds me I have to check which version he is on. He might still be on 20 something.
Good job on that! Linux is way better for average uses like you described. 😊
And that's the thing. It's great for casual users who do simple computing tasks, and it's great for the programmers, hackers, and IT professionals. But there's no middle ground for power users who know a bit more than the average users but can't be bothered to learn shell scripting.
I'm using Linux ten years now and I never learned shell scripting. Or do you mean running commands in the shell?
I don't agree with your exact reasoning on the middle ground, but I think there's truth in the underlying sentiment.
I do think that users that are are competent with technology but unfamiliar with Linux are pretty likely to get frustrated with it. I had this discussion with a friend just yesterday. They want to try out Linux because of frustration with Windows 11's restrictive hardware requirements. But they also want to ease in to it. I think that's wise. In this specific case, I think if they tried to dump Windows in it's entirety and try to use Arch right off the bat, they'd get frustrated and give up. But if they tried a user friendly distro on a secondary piece of hardware? I think that has a good chance of creating a new Linux user.
I guess the point of that rambling paragraph is that that type of a user is a challenge, but there is middle ground to be had.
It was hard for me too, but PopOS made my life easy back in the day when I first tried.
No drivers needed, everything worked out of the box, including the Nvidia GeForce 2060 Mobile. So I just needed to get comfortable with the OS in general.
Can u come over to my house next?!?!
I switched my mothers Laptop to Gentoo with KDE some time ago and she did not even notice, because I placed the firefox icon at the same location it was in windows .. 😜 she noticed only that the wallpaper is different
I'm sorry... Gentoo? Mom's Laptop? ...
Thinking about doing this for my parents is giving me an anxiety attack, thanks OP.
It went smoothly, even smoother than I was suspecting. I just made sure to backup all their data, and made sure they had all their passwords for accounts.
Similar story—last year my mom wanted a new macbook for Christmas. I got her a refurbished Asus something or other for a fraction of the price, installed Linux Mint on it, and customized it with a Mac theme.
I was transparent with her about the fact it’s not a Mac, and taught her to use things like Keepass and Firefox. It took some convincing and persistence, but in the end she stuck with it and I’m kinda proud of her tbh.
Good on you for showing your rents there’s a viable alternative to Windows.
Awesome!
My dad has a Surface Go. I've installed Fedora on one of those and it works really well. Dad is still unsure about this but I will try to convince him during the holydays.
You're a good offspring.
I did this about a decade ago for my parents. Upgraded their computer last year and they told me they wanted to keep Linux on the new machine.
My dad wasn't convinced until his hoyle card games ran with wine though.
Nice. Take that, adware installers! Web exploits and phishing are still (minor) risks though, since they're mostly platform agnostic.
tried to do that but mom wanted some esoteric bookkeeping software to function - so back to windows for her
Congrats. I did that several years ago and they had no issues. even have my grandmother using it as well. As longs as the internet icon was in the same spot she's good.
I'm about to do this for my mother as well. I just switched back myself and found Mint has come a very long way. The last time I ran it as my main OS 10 years ago it was pretty demanding from the user, but mint now is probably more user friendly than Windows.