I saw the End of 10 campaign on other parts of Lemmy and wanted to get involved:
I also do some tech support work on the side helping people at an aged care facility with their devices. I see people using their Windows computers and I just feel they would have such an easier time using Linux.
I reached out to my local Repair Cafe about End of 10 to help people switch over if they don’t want to get a new device. They’re happy to talk about so I want to make sure I clearly explain the value of switching to Linux, both to hold on to existing devices and move away from corporate spyware.
Here are the things I thought I’d bring up when I talk to them: -Linux is free, but not in the ‘you’re the product’ way -Linux Mint is made to look and work similar to Windows to make the switch easier -It works on older hardware and takes less resources, so can often feel like a performance boost to an existing PC -No tracking or telemetry so what you do on your computer is private -Linux can cover the general computer use case of using a browser, word processing, image viewing, and maybe some light graphic design -There are free software equivalents to just about all major software you use on your PC -The package manager makes it easy to download and maintain software -You can give Linux a ‘free trial’ by bootloading into it before installing -You can dual partition so you can still run windows if you don’t want to make the full switch -Games and Windows software can run on Linux with WINE if necessary -There’s a huge community you can reach out to if you’re stuck with anything Linux
I was thinking of using the analogy that software on Linux is a bit like shopping at Aldi. It doesn’t have the major brands but there are free alternatives that do the same thing, and are often better than the paid versions you’re used to.
I’d also bring an old laptop I put Mint on for my kids to play with. It’s from 2012 and Windows stopped supporting the wireless drivers. It could connect to the internet with Mint right out of the box so that’s one device already saved from e-waste with Linux.
Is there anything else you’d mention? I know there’s deeper technical reasons why Linux is better but I want to keep it high level as I’m not sure of the technical proficiency of the people I’ll be talking to.
It’s a great idea, but don’t forget about how these people are going to get support in the future. If something breaks, most helpers (computer shops, kids friends etc) are going to be Windows users.
Mint can do automatic updates, but both my laptop and PC have had serious issues with version upgrades. My laptop, which is Mint only, asked me to remove a load of software before upgrading, then booted with loads of errors and had to be reinstalled. My PC was mostly fine, but had no sound. It turned out that Mint switched from Pulse Audio to Pipewire, or vice versa, and the old audio manager left config files behind.
They were both annoying issues more than anything else, but would be difficult for the people in your scenario to get fixed.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to put you off, just checking that you’ve thought of the downsides :)
This is something I’m willing to accept and will help out people initially if the workload isn’t too much.
The other guy that does the tech support sessions also uses Linux so I could get him on board if it gets too much for me. We’ll just have to see what the response is and how much support people need.
Thanks for doing that.
IMHO it’s show, don’t tell. I’m assuming you have few laptops laying around here but ideally :
- have a working Linux computer and let them play with it. You can have few documents on the desktop to help kickstart the process, few browser tabs opened with e.g. ProtonDB to show that most games do work, etc. A little “trick” you can do is have an email client (Web based or not) opened so that they can (if they want) email to themselves a message like “I wrote this on Linux!” and a link to some documentation your wrote online about the event.
- have another one where you can do an installation live (or play in loop a few minutes video recording where disk formatting, package download and installation, are sped up, easy to do with a VM)
- have yet another one where … they can install themselves! I’d suggest a VM there so that they don’t fear they would wreck your computer
Few “gotcha” I would warn people who are genuinely interested in (as I wouldn’t waste time with this for people still doubting) :
- backup your data (documents, family photos, work, etc but NOT games, music, downloaded movies) on a USB stick before you do anything!
- you might have to tinker with BIOS settings but that is not scary BECAUSE you backed up your data
- there are plenty of distributions, even though that’s beautiful, … just pick a popular one at first because that’s how you get help more easily
- peripherals are not all made equal, even though the vast VAST majority do work with Linux, they don’t have little stickers to help customers buy them so rely on standards (like BlueTooth or WiFi) AND if it’s something expensive or bulky, do check online reviews with product name + linux in a search engine like DuckDuckGo.
Now… the actual argument I usually share with people is the browser. Most people don’t use their computer, really. They use their browser to connect to the Web THEN do their “work” or entertainment. In that case then it should be no problem because browsers are properly cross platform. I would let them potentially use Chrome (sigh) or Chromium just to show how familiar it is and hope that, as they learn more about freedom, they do consider other browsers, like Firefox or WaterFox, Pale Moon, etc but just like with distributions, starting with whatever is popular and they feel comfortable with.
The browser is a good point and something I’d really want people to think about. A lot of people probably think they use a bunch of programs, but a majority of their computer experience is probably in the browser, with an office suite and maybe an email client.
If people realise their computer is mostly an interface for their browser, the underlying OS doesn’t matter as much and it’s better to go something leaner.
Honestly, most of your selling points while completely valid don’t matter in this case I think. The problem is that is a repair business doing work for non-technical people and those are technical selling points. For example, my wife is allergic to tech. She wouldn’t care about dual-booting or telemetry. She just wants the simplest possible solution that she doesn’t have to think about. She’s bored having to listen to me talk about projects/work and while she has to have a PC for daily life, that doesn’t mean she wants to have to have it. She just needs it and needs it to be easy.
The biggest selling points to her would be:
- It just works
- She doesn’t have to relearn things (meaning the layout and where to click on things)
- It runs her stuff (literally all browser based applications)
- Her files and pictures are there
That’s it. I think the biggest positive sell to repair shop users would be “its just like Windows”. They don’t need it to be better, they just need it to be the same.
You’re right. I should highlight the ‘it just works’ side more. And how that title has been taken from Windows and applies to Linux now.
I’d point out to people how Mint looks like windows but: -No Onedrive popups -No Office popups -No Copilot popups -No update popups -Settings are all in one place -File explorer works the same, but looks nicer
And that yeah, you don’t have to relearn things. There are minor changes because it’s a different system, but you’ll come to find things make more intuitive sense once you get used to it.
Admittedly I’ve just scanned your list, but from a repair shop POV, surely the legal licensing would be of interest?
Ie, someone brings in an old device thst won’t run Win7 let alone 11 - but you can’t repair / upgrade without being very careful with the COA license
Linux: no issues.
That’s definitely part of it. I can mention that whilst it can keep people’s daily drivers going, they can bring in even older functioning computers and breathe new life into them.
Like I installed a couple of education apps like GCompris on my kids’ laptop, and I could turn off the wifi receiver through the terminal if I wanted to. You could bring in an old laptop and turn it into an air-gapped education station for the kids.
