converting windows users

[chris morris]

I don't know how many of you actively promote our favorite OS. And if
you do what flavor you push new users towards?
In my day to day work I find a few Windows users (mostly XP users) who
could happily survive with linux because of what the use (or don't use)
their computers for.

There are still many who are shocked to find out that they cannot buy
WinXP anymore.
Some have heard of the nightmare that is/was Vista and are reluctant to
try Win7.
When I inform them that Win7 is soon to be replaced with Version8 which
will make their Desktop look like a big cellphone screen they are
justifiably fearful.

So I tell them if they just want to surf the net, do emails, music,
video, digital photos etc they don't actually NEED windows at all.
And I also tell them I can GIVE them an OS that looks just like WinXP,
has familiar menus, etc and won't cost them a cent.

Until now the flavor I've been pushing to these people has been Ubuntu,
(Gnome not Unity) but now I'm tempted to push Zorin-OS http://zorin-os.com/
I downloaded it and ran the liveCD on a couple of systems, and I'm very
impressed.

It appears to be about as Windows XP-ish as you could possibly make a
Linux Distro.

That should suit long-time windows xp addicts perfectly :)

Chris

[Erin Drummond]

I tend to not take your approach - I have observed that if you give
them something that looks like Windows XP, then they will expect it to
behave like Windows XP and get upset when they cant run .exe files or
Microsoft Office.

When promoting Linux I usually recommend Ubuntu simply because its got
the most support. I also make it very clear that its *not* windows,
and will *not* behave like windows, and show the person how to achieve
common tasks. 9 times out of 10 they just need to know how to get to
Firefox (make sure Flash is installed so they can play their Facebook
games), how to browse through their documents/images and how to get to
the LibreOffice apps (also stress that LibreOffice is *not* Microsoft
Office, so everything will *not* be in the same place).

Some users are close-minded and set in their ways and its much less
painful to leave them on Windows. Windows 7 will be supported for a
while, so I just tell them to upgrade to that (they're paying for
familiarity and not having to think about what they're doing).

If the user is open minded and is actually willing to learn, then
pretty much any flavour of linux will work.

Just my 0.02 :-)

[chris morris]

Yes I do tell them none of their old software is going to work.
And also that the programs they will be using are 'different' but will
do the same tasks.
Most as you say are just wanting to use the internet/email/facebook etc.

Where is falls down is video editing and DVD creation.
Any windows user can do this easily with little of no knowledge - to do
it in linux is a lot more involved.

I also ask them if they will be wanting to print photos (and what sort
of printer/scanner they have to see if its even supported)
If they want to do any of that, its back to paying for Win7.

Although thats no guarantee either, I just upgraded a client from
WinXP32 to Win7-64 and there are no 64bit drivers for his canon a3 photo
printer :(

chris

[Rose McGillicuddy]

I haven't managed to actually convert anyone yet, but I imagine the time is ripe with WinXP no longer available to buy, especially for people who can't afford to upgrade to Windows 7.

I've tried various over the years but always come back to Pclinuxos, however if they're ready to change and have a play then I agree with Erin that pretty much any flavour will work..  For basic computer use Pclos is very easy, install is easy, and keeping the system up to date can be automated.  There's a variety of desktops, so it can be made WinXP-like using KDE  if desired, or totally different, with a couple of lightweight desktops for PCs with lesser specs.

Cheers Rose

--
Registered Linux user #386597 http://counter.li.org/
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” 
― Albert Einstein

[Perry Spiller]

----------------Earlier, Chris commented--------------------

I don't know how many of you actively promote our favorite OS. And if
you do what flavor you push new users towards?
In my day to day work I find a few Windows users (mostly XP users) who
could happily survive with linux because of what the use (or don't use)
their computers for.

----------------Later, Erin commented--------------------

If the user is open minded and is actually willing to learn, then
pretty much any flavour of linux will work.

Not sure that open-mindedness is the biggest problem.

For the average Jill or Joe, who thinks that all the world's
problems are solved by a laptop - just like these twerps -
I suspect that most anything will do. These sorts of depict-
ions make me want to throw up. Worshipping cross-legged
in front of the CPU gawd.



Pic served from my web host, BTW, Chris.
But it was not simple to achieve! Permissions
can be one helluva nightmare. Anyway . . .

Among the many hurdles for any potential new Linux users is
one big one: What do they use at work?

In my case, I'm still a Windoze dependency, but that's because
of the software I use, more than anything. All the web-based
stuff is Linux or Unix-a-like, so it's a two world thing, for me.

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[Rose McGillicuddy]

Good point  - for work stuff I use Windows, as if write something in Linux then send it to work, the formatting gets a bit strangled!  Other than that probably no issue for email browsing etc. 

---

Looking for a place to host your web site idea?

Look no further than this company.
I use them for my web sites.

How did I get an Internet address/domain name?
I bought it from this company for $NZ27 for 3 years.

Cheap? You betcha! You can do it, too. Click on
either of the links to check for yourself.