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Still An Advocate?


raymac46

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I have considered myself a Linux advocate for many years, but lately things have changed. I have stopped installing Linux on friends' computers and am just concentrating on my own and ones for the grandkids. Some of my reasons:

  • The pandemic has made it impossible for me to make any sort of housecall, and so I cannot offer in-person support. I am sure some folks I installed Linux for have not upgraded to a new version or even updated the one they have. But I cannot help them out.
  • I have concluded that if you have an older PC it makes sense to combine a Linux install with an upgrade in memory and an SSD if at all possible. Many older folks don't want to invest the money and I can't force them to.
  • To be honest a lot of the older set are moving away from PCs to tablets and mobile. They get into the planned obsolescence mentality, and don't see the point of refurbishing an old PC.
  • In the past I was refurbishing an older desktop that was surprisingly good,  just running an unsupported O/S like Windows XP. Now the machines  that I encounter as Linux candidates are cheap laptops that are surprisingly bad and hard to work on.

I suppose I am still an advocate and - where possible - I'll keep an older machine out of the landfill. But the enthusiasm isn't there as much as before. Do you feel that way too, or am I just getting old?

Edited by raymac46
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securitybreach

I've converted a few people over the years but honestly, unless they are interested in running Linux, I do not even bother to try promote Linux. There are enough people nowadays who are using Linux that need help and such. Plus unless you just introduce them and they do fine on their own, you end up having to maintain their machines. For instance I installed Linux for my cousin a couple of years ago and while he was fine doing everything he wants to do, I always end up having to run hundreds of updates whenever I see him as he doesn't update at all. 

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I haven't tried to convert anyone. I'll tell people that I use Linux, that I'm very happy with it, and that I wouldn't willingly go back to using Windows. I'm not trying to convince anyone else to use it, though. I figure that's for them to decide, and then they can go online and find out what to do, if they're interested.

 

It's been my opinion that the ones who appreciate Linux the most, and who get the most out of it, are ones who probably never needed anybody to convert them. Maybe that's wrong, but I found out about Linux after having used open source software and some other freeware in Windows. I read up a little and decided it was something I wanted to try.

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