<div dir="ltr">I switched my father from Windows XP to linux several years (7?) back because it was easier for me to support at the time. I would not rate it a success and he has since switched to a MAC (which is also a failure but that's another story).<div>
<br></div><div>Just some of the reasons:</div><div><br></div><div>1. Lack of a reasonable Email client that compares to Outlook.</div><div>2. Support for scanning documents is horrible. Assuming you can even find a scanner that works, there is no good scanning software on Linux.</div>
<div>3. OpenOffice documents are not 100% compatible with Office (though arguably, Office versions are also not compatible with each other so that may not be fair).</div><div>3. And most importantly, lack of support. My father uses his computer for his consulting business and I work full time. I can't support him during business hours and there is no place else to go. You can't just walk into Staples with your laptop and ask for help.</div>
<div><br></div><div>There were lots of other frustrations over the years that I've blocked out of my memory.</div><div><br></div><div>If you're just doing basic stuff like web browsing, then _maybe_ Linux would work for you but you have to live with a lot of limitations related to browser incompatibility, plugins etc. For example, will you're banking site work?</div>
<div><br></div><div>I said it in the other thread, for basic use I'd go with an Android tablet hands-down. It requires minimal if any hands-on support, and it's also very well supported out on the web with apps for pretty much everything. And you can't beat the price.</div>
<div><br></div><div>John</div><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 2:37 AM, Trevor Cordes <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:trevor@tecnopolis.ca" target="_blank">trevor@tecnopolis.ca</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="">On 2014-02-12 Mark Jenkins wrote:<br>
><br>
> I probably also said, "would you like to spend $1xx.xx on a Windows<br>
> Retail License?" seeing how we were working with a whitebox built<br>
> from parts.<br>
<br>
</div>Thanks for everyone's input. Yes, a cost of "free" is also a bonus if<br>
we go with Linux, though it would not be the sole deciding factor.<br>
<br>
I think I may give Linux a try. I will certainly report back with the<br>
results, in a few months. An eye towards a "LTS" type distro would<br>
certainly be desirable, though I'm already adept at keeping 20+ Fedora<br>
boxen updated (entirely remotely/headless!) to the latest version every<br>
year (every 2 releases, when support ends).<br>
<br>
As for tablets, I'm not sure moving parents in that direction is<br>
ideal. For one, they don't like change. Second, I don't think she'd<br>
like the ergonomics. Third, I'm not convinced tablets are the "future",<br>
in the sense that desktops will completely disappear (anyone remember<br>
netbooks, they were the "future" once too!). I like tablets for<br>
what they are good for, the odd lookup of something while watching tv,<br>
or casually keeping up with junk mail. I would never sit at a tablet to<br>
do serious (wordy!) email or composing some essay in a word processor!!<br>
The clunky interfaces aren't even great for my style of web browsing,<br>
where I tend to middle-click the next twelve links and peruse from<br>
there.<br>
<br>
I won't even get into the thought of doing all my programming and admin<br>
work on a tablet! I think I'd go all hari-kari.<br>
<br>
But that's a whole other discussion!<br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br>John Lange<br><a href="http://www.johnlange.ca">www.johnlange.ca</a>
</div>