Howdy there! I posted here a while ago sharing a script to a video guide on how and why someone might want to switch to Linux and I wanted to share the finished product now that it is complete. My goal with this script was to create something explaining why an average person might want to stop using Windows and what Linux can do for them in its place. It is able to be watched on Peertube and YouTube as well as read in its entirety on my website. If you give it a watch or a read please let me know what you think. Thank you for your time :)
I looked on the topics of the video and all of them make sense. However, I think the biggest problem for average persons is that they don’t care enough to watch a video that is 80 minutes long (if they even find it). Also, I’m not sure if video is the correct format since I prefer text and some pictures. But I’m not an average user :) for a grandma a video might be better, I don’t know.
For feedback of the video itself, the parts where you show Cinnamon, Gnome and KDE could benefit from showing the screen more and how to navigate in the OS. If I try to imagine how an elderly person would feel about changing OS to Linux from using Windows for decades then I’m not sure watching does short glimpses would convince them that they can handle it.
Sorry if it sounds harsh, I’m trying to give constructive feedback. I think it is a nice initiative and from what I saw the topics are well chosen and you speak slowly and clearly.
This is an excellent idea and very valuable - thanks for doing it 👍
Is there a good linux with tech support for less technically inclined individuals? Like ppl just call windows support when they have issues or know they can contact hp, dell, etc. Would they even get help using linux?
Yeah. That’s the entire premise of the zorin OS paid tier
Except they only help you with the install IIRC, so basically useless.
Oh. I wasn’t aware. I have been running endeavorOS for multiple years so I have only heard about zorin, never tried it. Thx for the cprrenction
I’ve been thinking about doing exactly this but for the free and open source applications that I know well. Having a hotline/helpdesk would be way faster and easier for newcomers to make use of than reading forum posts scattered all over the internet that usually assume higher technical skill levels, or starting their own posts. I for one would learned way better this way and in many cases would have been happy to pay (reasonably) for it.
If anyone would like to get involved in setting something up let me know.
Just a heads up, you have apparently never helped any stranger.
Once they know you can help for free, they will expect this of you all the time, for free.
And the questions will be infuriating as ever. If you want to try it, just go to a beginners forum like gutefrage or your equivalent shitposting site and just answer every question on linux. No skipping.
Trust me, or if you dont at least just get a second phone number for it so you dont have to migrate to a second one once you decided that it takes a way too big toll on your mental health
Yeah I don’t mean for free. I think that’s implied by the “happy to pay (reasonably) for it” part of the comment.
Is it a thing that people call Windows or Dell etc. for problems with their PC? I looked quickly at Microsoft’s support page and in my country it seems like the only way to contact them is over a chat. But I can understand if the grandma user would prefer a phone call instead of a chat with an AI. Maybe Fedora or Tumbleweed have support over phone? Otherwise I would say all distros have good tech support in forums.
The premise is why you should change for those that arnt techy? I mean I’m pretty techy but get my ass handed to me anytime theres the slightest hiccup with Linux. The tutorials come from nice and well intentioned people but they gloss over a ton of stuff like drawing an owl meme. Its nice that its customizable but it also does allows people move app data from one drive to another without a warning to comical effects. Really, its cool for what it can do but it is not for the faint of heart and Ive yet to find any tutorials that dumb it down enough for this simple person thats been using computers since they were called IBM compatables.
I agree with you, however: People have no fear changing things in regedit or 10 layers deep in the control panel to make windows more like it was “before”.
Linux us just unfamiliar. That makes it more scary. So having tutorials like this makes it more accessible.
Very few people do that
I wonder if more people dive deep in the control panel than there are users of Linux. I bet there are and maybe even more that are willing to use regedit than there are Linux users.
There have been some efforts to mitigate this by adding warnings where appropriate. But that doesn’t stop certain people from ignoring those warnings and typing “Yes, do as I say!” and bricking their install anyway.
