[ubuntu-uk] Age and gender

[alan c]

London School of Puppetry wrote:
> In a conversation recently someone said to me that Ubuntu is only for
> techies.....and blokes at that- and young blokes at that!
> Out of interest, as a middle-aged woman- I rarely see any other female names
> on the forum- but I really like Ubuntu but could not do without the help
> from the Forum
> -what is the general format of the forum?and could anything be done to
> change the age/gender profile to make Ubuntu more accessible to others-OR
> are there lots of middle-aged females out there?

My wife leaves it all to me, not because I want that btw, but that is 
the way it is. She has her own kubuntu PC's anyway.

I help others, mostly elderly, both genders, with their PCs, also a 
local charity. Only ubuntu, kubuntu, which I install and help 
maintain. It is no problem for them or me whereas I know windows would 
be a problem.

The latest recruit is a female neighbour of my elderly in law. She 
wishes her husband would do more PC stuff, but he is more DIY 
practical than geek. Her windows PC is grinding to a halt and my offer 
to add a second HD and install ubuntu was accepted, given that I had 
already tried to resize the windows partition and found a problem 
which nearly lost the whole thing (left it alone then!). She is now 
happily, reliably, and securely using ubuntu on the 2nd HD. She is not 
likely to be independently using the forums or lists for a year or two 
yet I suspect, not confident enough. These people are real beginners, 
not techy but slightly courageous, ordinary (ex windows) users.

This goes for another elderly female I know uses kubuntu.

The good news is that these people are using k/ubuntu from choice and 
with confidence. They may take some time yet before they are willing 
to use forums or lists, if ever.
-- 
alan cocks
Kubuntu user#10391
Linux user #360648