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Comment by theandrewbailey | Hacker News Reader

> Of course, if they are already used to some other system, like Windows, changing is probably more trouble than it’s worth.

I thought that, too, but I installed Xubuntu on my parents PC, told them it works like Windows (like double click desktop icons to open programs, the X button in the corner closes them), showed them how to check email, watch Youtube, play solitaire, and shut down. I expected them to say "put it back like what it was", but after about 10 years, it never happened. I eventually showed them how to keep it up to date, but no big security issues ever happened like on Windows.

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I too did this for my family, but with Ubuntu many years ago. I expected it to be a rather rough switch from Windows, but everyone migrated without a hitch. And the number of support calls went to basically zero.

I did the same with a similar outcome.

Turns out they stopped using the computer.

Linux is great for power users and the absolute lightest users, with nothing but punishment in the middle.

I've not had problems recommending Fedora to people. The punishment seems to come with trying to play games that aren't supported by the developer.

Did this, but with Linux Mint, and had the same experience. If one only needs a browser and word processor, many Linux distros seem perfect.

Might as well get a Chromebook

+1. My dad even figured out how to use LibreOffice, which was awesome

We here on HN may have our doubts about Linux on the desktop, but for basic usage (= mostly using just the browser) it's more than good enough. And the main advantage (same as with MacOS) is that it's not Windows - which isn't necessarily going against Microsoft (although they are doing their part too with botched Windows updates), the biggest problem with Windows is that most malware is still targeting it.

>the biggest problem with Windows is that most malware is still targeting it.

And even so, when's the last time Windows had a serious security issue? I've been out of the Windows loop for a while, but it seems the biggest vulnerabilities of the past few years are OS agnostic.

Then again, you don't need a huge vulnerability, you just need enough hapless users who voluntarily download and install software containing your malware...

So don't give them root access, and mount the /home partition as noexec to prevent executing downloaded programs.

I set up a dual-boot Ubuntu install many years ago like this. It worked for years without me realizing — the Windows install had some problem, and my dad started using Ubuntu without telling me.

I figure the downloaded malware is more a reference to machines running Windows, not Ubuntu.

It's still pretty easy to download malicious shell scripts that can wreck your user data and configs on Linux, so noexec is a great tip for setting up a system for a non-technical user.

Great example. Similar design patterns result in similar user experiences irrespective of platform. Who would have thunk?

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