[ubuntu-uk] Another happy Ubuntu user :-)

[Rob Beard]

Hi folks,

Just got back from helping out a work colleague's Mum with her fresh 
install of Ubuntu.  I can't remember if I mentioned but he asked me a 
couple of weeks ago if I could 're-install' Windows XP on her PC.

Basically her PC was his old one which had a dodgy copy of XP & Office 
on it.  It was coming up with messages saying it wasn't a valid copy.  I 
said I'd happily install XP if he wanted to fork out £60 for a licence. 
  I also mentioned Ubuntu as an alternative as all his Mum does is write 
letters and read her e-mails.

Anyway, he decided to let me install Ubuntu.  I backed up the old data, 
installed Ubuntu and copied the data back over.  I put icons for Open 
Office and Firefox on the desktop (I named the icons Word Processor, 
Spreadsheet, Internet etc) and made sure that OpenOffice was pointing in 
the right location for her data.

This evening I went over to her house to set the printer up (HP Deskjet 
720) and show her how to do a Mail Merge (for labels) in OOo.  When I'd 
finished I asked how she was getting on with Ubuntu compared to what she 
had before.  She actually said she thought it was easy to use and she 
was getting on okay.  This was promising news as she was wasn't a really 
experienced user, all she wanted to do was write letters and browse the 
internet/check her e-mail.

So, there we have another happy Linux user.  Her PC does everything she 
wants it to and she didn't have to fork out for a Windows XP licence or 
MS Office.

I'm hoping that she'll now tell her friends about Linux and how it just 
works.  I didn't get much time to explain about the benefits of Linux 
(secure by default, not as much worry about Spyware/Viruses), but I'll 
probably send her a follow up e-mail in a week or two to make sure she's 
still getting on okay.

Rob