Making the switch easier fo newbies

[Fred Roller]

Amichai Rotman wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I sometimes go to my friends and family for a visit and they take 
> advantage of my PC Tech skills to fix all those pesky errors, slowness 
> and Spyware they get on their 3 yeard old (or older) Windows XP PCs....
>
>
> I would like to be able to convince them to switch to Linux (namely 
> Ubuntu). As we all know - humans fear any change....
>
> So I was thinking it could be nice if I had a little free app I 
> download to their Windows PC. This little app would scan their PC for 
> all apps installed and the Web browser's History (after displaying the 
> proper disclaimer, of course) and then produce a list of suitable 
> Linux distributions for the specific needs of that computer user.
>
> Maybe even generate a selections list we can use to install using 
> apt-get after a vanilla Ubuntu install, in effect - creating a 5 click 
> Migration Assistant...
>
> Any of you know of such an app in existence?
>
> Imagine the following scenario: 
>
> I go to my Aunts house, run this little app, it even downloads the 
> proper ISO, I burn the ISO to disc and  use it to revive her slow, 
> buggy PC...
>
> Thanks!
>
>
> .:====================================================:.
>
> Amichai Rotman
>
> UIN#: 6401746
> Registered Linux User#: 201192 [http://counter.li.org/]
> Registered Ubuntu User #12851 [http://ubuntucounter.geekosophical.net]
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> PLEASE READ: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> .:====================================================:.
You could also give wubi a go.  Installs and uninstalls from windows and 
effectively creates a dual boot so they can try to use it.  Personally, 
I dd their hdd to an .img and install a vanilla system.  If they dislike 
the linux then I dd their system back onto their harddrive.  (Honestly, 
if I have a spare drive I just swap them out for the trial run.)

-- 
Fred
www.fwrgallery.com

"Life is like linux, simple.  If you are fighting it you are doing something wrong."