5 Reasons your parents should use Linux
It’s no secret that tech-savvy computer users typically become the go-to guy for all technical help in their circles. More specifically, Mom and Dad tend to always ask us for help with their computers. If you’re tired of the phone calls from Mom and Dad complaining on how sloooww their computer has become, how fast it used to be, how many pop-ups there are, etc., spending hours upon hours fixing and repairing, re-installing and scanning, then this post should convince you with 5 reasons why your parents should use Linux.
- Security
- Cost
- Hardware
- Administration
- Dell
The most obvious and important reason your parents should run Linux is the security the Linux operating system provides. While many of us tech-savvy computer users have little to no problems surfing the web and staying connected 24/7 without running into viruses and spyware, it’s almost inevitable for a non-savvy Internet user [read: majority of moms and dads] to stumble across a virus or malware on a website or in an e-mail. Linux is well known for the safety and security of browsing the web without the worry of the popular viruses that plague a good portion of the Internet. The main reason being that virus and malware developers stick to Windows due to its popularity and worldwide reach.
Why should your parents have to pay money for an operating system and additional applications when there are hundreds of Linux alternatives that can do the same things they probably need for absolutely free? The GNU General Public License (GPL) gives users the freedom to change and share free software. This is where GNU/Linux derives from. Mom and Dad shouldn’t have to fork out upwards of $300 just for the basics of an OS. Linux is free and widely available, it should be a no-brainer.
One great aspect of Linux is that it works well with old hardware. Many times I’ll find that a lot of my friends parents have older model computers. They are brainwashed into thinking that in order to get off Windows 98, or Windows ME, they need to upgrade their whole system so they can install Vista. Linux works great on old machines – don’t even think about installing Vista on your Moms old 386, it just won’t work.
Administration of a Linux machine involves little to no work. If you chose to install Ubuntu Linux on your parents computer, they most administration they would have to do is click yes to install the updates when the Update Manager prompts them to. As an additional plus, for us savvy Linux users, if we needed to, we can open up SSH with a port forward and log into our parents computers remotely if needed. Additionally, I’ve had Linux computers that have literally sat turned on for years in a closet with very minimal administration. Linux just works.
You no longer can use the excuse that when you install Linux on your parents computer, it doesn’t work “out of the box”. With the semi-recent Dell and Canonical partnership you now have an option of buying a computer or laptop that comes pre-installed with Ubuntu Linux.
Alternatives to Mom & Dad’s Windows Applications
Below are a few alternatives to some common Windows applications that Mom and Dad may frequently use. For a more detailed list, see Alternatives to Windows Programs, Open Source Alternative, and The Linux Alternative Project.
Windows: Internet Explorer
Linux: Mozilla Firefox
Windows: MS Outlook
Linux: Mozilla Thunderbird or Evolution
Windows: Solitaire
Linux: AisleRiot Solitaire
Windows: ITunes
Linux: Banshee or Amarok
Windows: MS Word
Linux: OpenOffice.org
What do you need to do?
Step 1. Head over to the Ubunutu download site and download the latest Ubuntu Desktop ISO image.
Step 2. Burn the ISO image to a CD-R.
Step 3. Bring the CD-R to your parents house.
Step 4. Back up any necessary files on your parents computer.
Step 5. Place the CD-R in your parents CD-ROM drive.
Step 6. Reboot the computer.
Step 7. Install Ubuntu by following on screen instructions.
Step 8. Reboot after installation is complete.
Step 9. Enjoy the fact that your parents will stop bugging you to fix their computer. Instead you’ll get calls from mom asking Linux questions – isn’t that awesome?
Popularity: 14% [?]
Filed under: Linux
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
That would indeed be awsome. And that’s what I will do sooner or later since I KNOW that all the programs my parents use are running as good or better under linux! Maybe I will choose another linux distribution, but that’s another story….
Hi. I’m from Romania. My father is a lawyer and through the years he kept calling me on my cellphone whenever there was something wrong with his Windows machines. ASince I use Linux as my main Desktop OS, I asked him if he would give it a try. Guess what: he’s running ubuntu now on all of his systems and his home laptop for more than 2 years now, and only called me once to help him out during this time (he bough a new laser printer that needed drivers installed). No more viruses, no more memory usage, no more spyware. He’s even using the terminal now and then to install apps (been checking on him through SSH
). He even gave Vector Linux a try but switched back to Ubuntu.
EXCELLENT reasons. A lot of people do not use nearly all of the capability of their computers. Web surfing, sometimes little games, typing things. I fix computers, and I am surprised at how basic everyones setups are.
A good linux distro like Mepis, Ubuntu, or PCLinuxOS, will do ALL of that. The thing is that theyre such a pain to set up everything, but once its in its all gravy. Hey look at Windows XP! You need to spend 2 hours installing it and an hour and another 2 tying up loose ends (downloading, installing all the basics OO.o, FF, Thunderbird, WinRAR, Acroread, Flash, drivers, anti spy/mal stuff, running windowsupdate, etc). So when you really think about it, its not much worse to set up a linux machine even if something goes wrong.
I have to disagree and agree. While almost anybody can easily bring up points why to choose Linux or anything else, you’re still disregarding the fact that Linux is far from ready for the desktop world. You make it sound like it’s a god and is far easier to use, understand, comprehend, etc, than every (literally) other operating system out there. Linux is far from ready.
I tried Ubuntu once (one of the newer versions), couldn’t get my dialup modem working. Ho-ho, poor driver support is the first problem with Linux now.
If you setup there computer so they login not as an admin you’ll effectively get the same thing – but they will no how to use it and all of their hardware and odd software will work. Cost makes no difference – most hardware comes with a windows license, and a copy of xp runs just as well as popular linux on most hardware that mums and dads will have. Enable remote desktop when they do need to install something new and the administration is easier without linux. They both have a place. Linux is fun for me, windows is productive for them.
“..The main reason being that virus and malware developers stick to Windows due to its popularity and worldwide reach..”.
That dosen’t explain LAMP web servers which run 60% of all the public websites. Surely they should be the target of the most attacks? Perhaps it’s something to do with the linux security model which won’t allow a virus to propagate even if you manage to download and run an infected file?
Where as thats a great idea, some moms and dads just want their PC to have Internet Explorer so they can play their Yahoo! games….Where as most youth or elderly people just “browse” the web or check e-mail. It all depends on the situation.
When my oldest hit high school, I cobbled together a linux machine for her to use… browse, email, office apps and music. It lasted a week until her friends said it “looked funny.”
Are you saying that the latest version of linux will run just fine on a 386? If so, you are lying.
Also, the main reason that Linux is not more popular as a home computer is games (which might not be a problem with some mums and dads).
But before you install linux for you parents make sure that you will be available to solve any problems as they might find it difficult to get help from anyone else.
Great read, but umm the blue letters on grey background is tough to make out~
you know the alternative is locking down the windows install. A few hours when setting it up will save you from many phone calls also. I setup my parents machine in a restricted user mode. They can install programs or do anything like that but all of the programs they need are already installed.
Or maybe they should just buy a Mac so the wouldn’t have to deal with an extensive installation process and have to track down all sorts of software “replacements.” But if you are extremely technologically savvy and still live at home go ahead and install Linux for them.
I have even gone so far as to let my mother try out ubuntu from a live CD… she ran from it for a while. I’ve been pointing her toward open source to soften the blow, so she already knows firefox inside and out (well, for what she needs to know). But, when I tell her that spyware and virii are no longer a worry, she’s way more happy with her “safe” computer.
“….without the worry of the popular viruses that plague a good portion of the Internet. The main reason being that virus and malware developers stick to Windows due to its popularity and worldwide reach.”
I’m sorry, but this is just not true. That’s microsoft’s FUD. The main reason that nobody bothers to write viruses for Linux (though there are a few) is that it’s virtually impossible. microsoft likes to say if Linux becomes popular, it will have even more security issues than windows, but it’s a lie!!! Linux viruses are rare and impotent because once one is written, it takes HOURS!!!! for the hole to be found and patched, and boom! no more virus. Uhhh, when was the last time you saw a patch release from microsoft only hours after the problem was discovered?
Dont forget about songbird for a replacement of itunes. Looks almost identical, but the features are better in songbird.
Great idea!
So, instead of dealing with stupid Windows crashes and spyware, your parents can deal with stupid Linux compatibility issues. What do you think is going to happen when they go out and buy a digital camera, camcorder, or an iPod? Who do you think they’re going to call to help them then?
This doesn’t sound like that great of a trade off to me.
Yesss since I’ve discovered Ubuntu, installing it on my parents computer is the first thing I will do when I’m back home (I’m oversease right now). Maybe Xubuntu since their computer is quite old. It will be the same with anybody who asks me to re-install their system.. Nice post BTW!
Well, I already have it loaded up on my parents pc, after there old pc died and it was an easy install HOWEVER, it does NOT work with there HP Scanner, and looking into it it does not SUPPORT there scanner and that was a big thing they liked to do was scan in there pictures, slides that they had.
They also keep wanting to install Windows Software on it, go figure so they are having a hard time with it other than browsing the internet
Unfortunately one of my parents is basically hooked on a few games that are Windows only (Zooma, Bejweled) and its not easy getting her to switch.
I love ubuntu. when my Age of Mythology and prince of persia games will run on linux, I will wipe out my dual boot with only linux.
I wish things were that simpole, and in 90% of cases it is, but when they are not you need to be an uber elite hacker to get Linux to run. Time concerns are almost always primary compared to money concerns. I would rather spend 300-500$ on a new, budget desktop, which is about the same price between Ubuntu and Vista desktops, than try to rehabilitate a recalcitrant ancient desktop. Case in point, my old desktop which is running Windows 2000, has had failing hardware components for a while, and even Win2K runs like its in molasses. I dl the Ubuntu installer, insert it into the machine, and during boot up of the live cd or text installer, it hangs, says it cant execute tty, and thats it. Nothing….., I cant even understand the damn error messages.
6.you’ll seem them more everytime you try to add new hardware.
I tried doing this for my dad. I ended up giving up and putting XP back on. There are still kinks to work out.
Ubuntu or the other big distros are great, but as soon as something that doesn’t “just work” happens, you’re into heavy technical stuff and forum hunting to get it working.
Examples for me were installing Flash, and trying to get a USB headset to work.
I’ve been using Ubuntu for a few months now and in a Utopian world this would be true. The main thing I would’ve mentioned is the initial configuration of Ubuntu to get it to a level that your parent could use without hassle.
As long as they want to stick to doing basic tasks then everything should be fine in the long run. Go Ubuntu!
This is a very good idea.
Except every once in a while your Dad will phone you up and say “I bought this tax software at Business depot to do my tax return, and i’m having trouble installing it.”
THEN tell your dad that you put UBUNTU on to make his life easier.
Agreed. I installed Ubuntu as a dual-boot with XP on my Dad’s laptop after some malware trashed his original XP install.
I was out of the country for 3 months after that I didn’t get a single “help me” call from him.
When I got back, he told me how much faster and easier to use Ubuntu was. He hadn’t had any problems.
I’ve been planning on doing this to my Mom’s machine, actually installed it as a Dual boot with Xp and Ubuntu right after she bought it, with the intention of updating Ubuntu and showing her how to boot into it in the future. With Gutsy I think the time is now. It’s not like she’s going to need a full 80G drive anytime soon.
Oh, and as an extention to the ‘Mom and Dad’ theory, a good friend of mine was having trouble with his Xp system a few months back, had me over, I removed tons, and tons of crap, then it ran better. I told him, look, stick with Xp or go with Linux, either way – let me reinstall and you’ll have a like new machine. Weeks later he had trouble again, had another friend over who prompty told him his computer was ‘dead’ and that he had to buy a new one. Apparently after a few beers he did just that, bought the latest/fastest from Dell. So it’s not just Mom’s and Dad’s that think a computer is ‘dead’ just because it takes a few minutes to boot.
/me bangs on desk
Good advise! I myself have been planning to switch to Linux for a long time. Recently I read that it can be run even without installing it. I wrote about it here on my blog
I support my mom, my daughters (two), my nieces and nephews (7), my two sisters and my brother. It got so bad with Windows viruses, spam, spyware, bots, and so on that I finally said that if you want my help I’m going to have to put Linux on it. Ran through several types until Ubuntu caught on. My life if MUCH easier!
Well, I think this is great in theory, but not always in practice.
What happens when Mom & Dad get that new digital camera or printer with the nice Windows (or apple) software. The installation instructions hardly could be said to ‘work’ or be easy to follow now on Linux.
Also, guess no more shopping for software at local stores as thats all for Windows.
Yes, I know their are apps like Wine and such, but that is more stuff for the parents to learn.
I guess if you are able to presetup the PC, and basically lock it down, so they *NEVER* need to touch anything again (aka, you have preguessed ALL their needs feature and new software wise, making it an appliance of sorts) then it could work.. but then again, could not the same be done somewhat to other OSs too?
If cant basically make the PC an applance that is not altered, then eventually they will try to configure or install software that is Windows only and the complexities (as its not windows) of Linux may get in the way
I think I might have to do that too. There are more and more programs that run on Linux now… and many of them are even better/faster on Linux than on Windows (Skype, Google Earth, etc). I think pretty much everything that my parents could ever need is already available on Linux, so they should be just fine with Ubuntu on their system.
This is the worst color palette I have seen in a long time. Gray on gray? Come on, and the blue is also nearly unreadable.
The above reasoning was why I finally switched my wife to Kubuntu, the same as I’m running. In addition to the above advantages, networking is easier on our LAN.
She only boots to Win XP now when she wants to play Kyodai (still far superior to Linux mahjonggs).
Ubuntu is slow as hell on old hardware, like it or not. But it isn’t the only distro. Xubuntu, which uses XFCE, runs significantly faster, and if you need a *really* lightweight (but functional) system, try MEPIS AntiX (http://www.mepis.org/), TinyMe (http://tinyme.mypclinuxos.com/), or Wolvix (http://www.wolvix.org). AntiX is a slimmer version of MEPIS (with Fluxbox as the desktop), TinyMe is based on PCLOS (using OpenBox, iDesk, and LXDE-Panel), and Wolvix is a small, but complete, Slackware-based desktop based on XFCE. But still, Xubuntu is probably the best bet for tech-illiterate parents because of its ease of use.
I’ve been doing this for over a year now and I have this list of clients running Ubuntu – all administered remotely: father, 2 sisters, brother-in-law, cousin, 2 friends of the family, grandparents and 1 friend. None of which have had any major problems.
Thanks for the article. I enjoy the design of your site although the grey on grey is hard almost hard to read.
I’ve been doing this for over a year now and I have this list of clients running Ubuntu – all administered remotely: father, 2 sisters, brother-in-law, cousin, 2 friends of the family, grandparents and 1 friend. None of which have had any major problems.
Not to mention my business server (apache, postfix, vsftp) and backup server (rsync) that run Ubuntu.
Thanks for the article. I enjoy the design of your site although the grey on grey is hard almost hard to read.
Anonymous says:
… I tried Ubuntu once (one of the newer versions), couldn’t get my dialup modem working. Ho-ho, poor driver support is the first problem with Linux now.
Of course. Driver support on linux is bad, and it takes a lot more nuance to configure and set things up. Look at Ubuntu, you got newbies installing it and then discovering that they have to drop to the terminal often to input a bunch of incomprehensible commands just to get their stuff up and running.
The latest versions of Ubuntu, for example, have improved drastically on getting things up and running (restricted drivers, MP3 support, etc) which is all point and click now. No howtos and dropping to terminal, but a lot of stuff is moderately difficult to set up and use, like wireless cards.
I wouldnt trust my mom to install Windows XP, and I especially wouldnt trust her to install linux. But if I install and set up linux, then she can do everything that she does just as easily as she would on a Windows machine.
“One great aspect of Linux is that it works well with old hardware.”
Not if you toss KDE or Gnome on it.
Reasons to not switch your parents:
1. They are used to the Windows interface. Switching them would cause utter confusion regardless of Gnome’s/KDE’s similarities to the Windows’ GUI. Older people don’t learn as fast. They are more stuck in their ways, and they don’t like change.
Just this week I installed Ubuntu over Win98 for much these same reasons. If I’m the one maintaining the machine, it may as well be an OS I’m familiar with.
i have a a way of trouble shooting over the phone …
i dont think i can do this with linux …
am not familair with the interface …
so am just sticking with macOS X …
hehe …
@ Kevin Archibald regarding tax software comment.
That’s why it’s dual-booting with Windows XP. Very easy to get around the problem you suggest and still benefit from Linux.
Nice article but could you please fix your HTML code? Half the bullet points are in blue, making them unreadable.
Plus the grey is not easy to read…
Dell only recommends that experienced users buy their Ubuntu machines. They DON’T recommend them for “mom and pop” users.
Nice to see them out there, tho’.
I got my mom on linux this summer and it’s been great for her. But dad won’t budge. Windows 98, Corel Draw 4, Word 97 and frequent reboots are what he’s come to expect and he’s not willing to change. For him, it’s about not wanting to learn new ways of working. And, still, he tries to obligate me into supporting his desktop. “I wrote the Apollo lunar lander code at Boeing in 4800 bytes and that should be enough for anyone.”
I installed SuSE 10.1 on my Mom’s PC quite a while back, with dual boot having Win98. She’s 79 and enjoys it. She only uses it for amusement, mostly spider and mahjongg. I don’t think she even knows Windows in on the PC. The less PC-savy the parent the more important it is to have a stable system like Linux.
I have done this for my Dad’s computer. Here’s where it goes wrong.
- He is blind to everything that happens on a computer. He does not “see” the “updates available” indicator. There is some sort of peceptual filter that causes him to just not notice dialogs and windows that pop up all over the place.. even when he has to click to dismiss them he will *never* pay any attention to them.
This isn’t a problem with Linux.. it’s a problem with old people and computers and Linux can’t solve it.
- Printers.. there are a lot of relatively modern printers that simply aren’t supported on Linux.. My dad has one of them. Given that he is old.. he must print everything… he does not understand the concept of having information in a digital form.
- When something goes wrong, the neighbour can’t help. Linux does not administer itself.. it just requires administration less often. When you do need to do administration it is orders of magnitude harder to do on Linux. The GUIs just aren’t there yet. Your parents can’t run vi (nor should any human be expected to).
Audio on Linux either works or gives you nothing but grief. I have a degree in computer engineering and I can’t get working audio to “stick” on my Ubuntu box. If it works on the desktop it doesn’t work for Flash. If I get one of the no-working audio cases working I lose audio somewhere else (e.g. totem). Looking at the options for audio in the settings it is clear that audio on Linux is a disaster.. there are 4 or 5 options to pick for “what to use to try to make sound” one of them works (and it isn’t “auto”), but not for all applications.
What your parents really need is a Mac. They truly just work.. largely because of the control Apple has over the hardware. PC hardware is a minefield of half-backed chipsets and shoddy systems integration. Microsoft has the resources to try to sort out a solution. The Linux community can’t keep up.
Well, I, for one, have already done this.
So far I’ve installed Ubuntu for my Mother-in-law, wife’s aunt, my brother, my sister, and two friends… I installed a customized version of Puppy linux for my mother, and I’ve installed linux for 7 customers of my home-based PC repair business (most of which are senior citizens).
Out of all these people, only two have decided to switch back. One because they had a Zune, and the other because they unplugged their machine and crashed their hard-drive and blamed it on the Linux install, simply because they couldn’t remember a simple command like Ctrl+Alt+Backspace.
To those of you who say Linux isn’t ready for the desktop, shut up and go update your antivirus.
I totally agree with you except for point #2. If you read the article called “windows is free” (first on google) you’ll see that for a lot of moms and dads, they don’t “pay” for windows in their minds, so they don’t need a free system.
Exceot for that, I totally support your point, since I do install a few linux distros on “normal people”‘s computer every year.
You must be thinking of “mom and pop” users who are technically savvy.