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Recommending Linux to a Friend

posted by Dopefish on Wednesday March 05 2014, @07:30PM   Printer-friendly
from the no-need-to-join-the-microsoft-collective dept.

resignator writes:

"'Arm yourself with the information needed before telling someone to install such and such distro because it's great,' warned blogger Ken Starks in his recent FOSS Force post. 'It might be great for you, but maybe not so much with my hardware choices.'

What considerations do SoylentNews readers have when recommending an OS? What OS do you recommend the most or least? How far would you go to 'tailor' a Linux distro to a potential adopter before recommending something that will work out of the box but lack non-essential features?"

 
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by captaindeerface on Thursday March 06 2014, @04:58AM

    by captaindeerface (2029) on Thursday March 06 2014, @04:58AM (#11839)

    When recommending an OS, I consider what they will use it for and what i know about them to try to make an informed decision.

    I usually end up recommending Mac OS X, or very rarely Windows.
    People usually want to do facebook, email, edit photos in a photo library app, "skype", lite easy video editing.
    Linux can cover all of this.

    If i show them linux and apt-get and their face glazes over, I know they are not "the one". usually then I'll see if they were thinking Mac or Win, and most say "Oh I was thinking of getting a Mac anyway" And I'll point them to good FOSS apps for Mac. I have yet to have a complaint from one of those.

    I haven't yet seen a linux distro where you don't have to touch the command line ever and it just works, and software just works and installing it just works.

    I would usually not go too far to customize distro to a meet a friends needs. If i did, it would be something i would have to support. Hand-holding too much generally seems to create a social contract to do more of the same.

    I have only one friend I've turned to linux for desktop use because he was exploratory in nature, He liked the linux/FOSS ethos as soon as he heard about it and his needs were easily met by FOSS/Linux.

    I have set up a headless linux box as a simple server for some friends. But again that was all that they needed.

    If the mere sight of the command line causes an Akira-ball like shockwave of xenophobia, I'll pass on flipping them to the higher plane.
    I love the command line, but most people think I'm some uber hacker whenever I have a term open, even though I'm just an old perpetual n00b ;).

    Like how some old white people think of young black people in hoodies after dark. Even though those guys help out in the Big Brother Big Sisters program and run the church youth group and are only out looking to feed the homeless, doesn't mean that old whites aren't scared. ;)

    To a user in a world of visual metaphor, the command line is bat-shit scary.

    -Cpt. DF

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 07 2014, @04:25AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 07 2014, @04:25AM (#12551)

    Check out Mageia.