On 12/3/06, Sonia Hamilton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Here's an ethical question for you. I have a middle aged friend who wants to "learn computers"; he's never used computers before (he's a builder). In exchange for some work he's doing for me, I'm going to install everything, get him connected to the net and teach him how to do email, use the internet, write basic documents, and whatever else comes up (eg playing music, watching videos). As a builder he also wants to be able to submit documents to councils - I haven't been able to pin down the format required by councils yet.
Surely submitting in PDF would be acceptable? If you install the proprietary fonts, I think that should be enough of a compromise. If he really needs to be working with Office, then he should probably be using Windows.
Do I install and teach him 'doze/M$ Office or Ubuntu? Or, setup dual boot and teach him both?
I don't think dual boot would be worth doing, unless you make Windows an offline option, just for using Office. This would alleviate some of the security concerns as well.
Or, install Ubuntu and Cross Over office?
Probably more pain than it's worth, but I haven't used it. Reading about problems and the costs has turned me off the idea.
The Linux lover and advocate in me says "Linux, of course", but is that ethical? What I mean is that some time in the future I mightn't be around to help him, then he'll be at the tender mercies of other friends, PC shops, ISP phone support, etc, who probably won't know Linux.
Internode will support any system with TCP/IP. I assume you'd be setting up Firefox and Thunderbird anyway and using a broadband connection. So most of the configuration should be the same on any platform.
If he goes to an internet cafe or reads a newspaper article, he'll also be stuck in a 'doze world. I can point him at SLUG, but is that really helping him?
Probably not - other than as a resource to find a technician.
On the other hand, with Linux he'll get everything extra for free, won't have to learn about nagware/cracks, won't be stuck in the "upgrade treadmill", won't have virus problems, and generally have less problems... I'm not trolling here - this is a serious question - imagine if you were in the same situation with a friend/parent, and weren't going to be around for ever to help them.
Anyone unfamiliar with computers is going to need some help at some point. I think the cost of supporting Ubuntu would be cheaper than the cost of Windows + support. I'd suggest making a list of numbers to call if he needs support and checking rates. I'm in a similar situation and I'm installing Ubuntu for the simple selfish reason that I don't want to be stuffing around with anti-virus/anti-malware stuff. Given the huge hardware requirements of Vista you'd even be able to save a bit of cash on hardware or have smoother performance by using Linux. Ben -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
