Future and impact of ongoing projects in Linux world

[Tom H]

On Tue, Oct 11, 2016 at 2:27 PM, Xen <list at xenhideout.nl> wrote:
> Tom H schreef op 11-10-2016 16:52:
>> On Mon, Oct 10, 2016 at 1:01 PM, Xen <list at xenhideout.nl> wrote:


I'll reply quickly to the beginning and read and reply to the rest tomorrow.


>>> That's not really true. The vast majority of people would go screaming
>>> for a Windows or Mac PC if they had Linux preinstalled.
>>>
>>> The level of system maintenance I would have to give to my family for
>>> a Linux box is about 95%.
>>
>> Please don't extrapolate from your experience to all.
>>
>> I maintain three laptops for non-technical users and they're running
>> Ubuntu quite happily.
>
> You say "maintain". I have never "maintained" anyone's Windows systems. I
> just fixed stuff when it was broken and that was a very irregular event,
> very very rarely. There was no maintenance in that sense. It is mostly "set
> up and forget".

What I mean by maintain is make sure that updates are installed, just
like on Windows and macOS.

One of the laptops is my neighbor's. I whatsapp her to see whether
it's a good time, and if it is, I switch to her wifi network, ssh in,
and run apt-get.

I visit my parents once a week and I do the same on their laptops.


> And I was not extrapolating from Ubuntu experience (in that sense,
> supporting people with it) because I have never ever installed it on someone
> else's System. I was extrapolating from my Windows experience. So, what you
> say and what I say do not necessarily conflict, particularly if you attest
> to "maintaining" those laptops for other peole which is precisely the
> relationship I indicated.

I used to do the same as I now do with Ubuntu with my parents' laptops
when they were running Windows six years ago.


> Could you take yourself out of the equation for those 3 laptops for a year
> without a problem?

Absolutely. I'd switch on the update thingy for them to click OK for
their systems to be updated.