Converting a Windows 7 user to Xubuntu 13.10 & Miscellaneous Observations about Xubuntu 13.10

[Jackson Doak]

   - Gamers and XBox owners.  I said "potential".  If this is a teenager,
   you can try to sell them about the rebellious open source community!  (-:

I'm offended, but that would probably work on some

   - Migration of Microsoft Office to LibreOffice - Fortunately, the
   Microsoft Word-documents, Powerpoint-presentations, and Excel-spreadsheets
   are normally converted without too many issues; some will probably require
   some manual cleaning up.  The big obstacle here is the Visio drawing tool.
   There isn't a way that I could find to convert their drawings to be
   imported by `dia` or other Linux drawing tools.  Mine too.

Just make sure they know how to save in a word readable format, otherwise
there will be a lot of hate coming at you.

   - Photoshop to The Gimp?  Photoshop is very complex to operate and so is
   the Gimp.  I could not find a way to migrate one artist (my daughter) from
   Windows to Linux because of this single issue (she is already a Firefox and
   LibreOffice user).  I don't think she is unusual in her disdain for
   large-scale change of habits.

Point people to something like pinta that is slightly easier to learn if
they don't need every feature ever made.


On Sun, Dec 15, 2013 at 4:59 AM, Richard Elkins <richard.elkins at gmail.com>wrote:

>  I have converted neighbors and family members to home-PC-Linux since
> 2003, lately exclusively to Xubuntu.  They were all non-computer-tech
> people with various levels of experience and education.  My simple approach
> (like an interview):
>
> Would you like to
>
>    - avoid being forced to periodically purchase new hardware by the
>    basic software vendor?
>    - avoid being forced to periodically purchase new versions of
>    essentially the same basic software and office software?
>    - stop being tempted into stealing software from Microsoft and other
>    Windows vendors?
>    - reduce time dealing with spyware and viruses because your "basic
>    software" (OS) is being targeted by miscreants?  Linux like Android could
>    still be attacked but this is a probability question.  One still needs
>    protection on a Linux system.
>
> Nothing is "free".  There are ONE-TIME (fixed) "costs" in terms of
> personal time investment associated with adopting Xubuntu for a new
> non-computer-tech user:
>
>    - During the migration, stored data must be backed up from Windows and
>    restored to the new Linux system.
>     - Learn a new desktop and set of programs.  Essentially, learn how to
>    go find things one uses and operate, in general, in a different manner.
>    Change is always a pain.  Intelligence and curiosity helps.  People locked
>    into habits will probably not succeed.
>
> Potential large hurdles:
>
>    - Gamers and XBox owners.  I said "potential".  If this is a teenager,
>    you can try to sell them about the rebellious open source community!  (-:
>     - Migration of Microsoft Office to LibreOffice - Fortunately, the
>    Microsoft Word-documents, Powerpoint-presentations, and Excel-spreadsheets
>    are normally converted without too many issues; some will probably require
>    some manual cleaning up.  The big obstacle here is the Visio drawing tool.
>    There isn't a way that I could find to convert their drawings to be
>    imported by `dia` or other Linux drawing tools.  Mine too.
>     - Outlook mail/calendar/etc. - I converted myself a long time ago by
>    doing a lot of Windows and Linux programming which effectively moved me
>    from Outlook to Yahoo almost-equivalents.  I don't recommend this
>    approach.  This is probably an individual by individual solution, assuming
>    there is one for a given individual (no other stumbling blocks).
>     - Photoshop to The Gimp?  Photoshop is very complex to operate and so
>    is the Gimp.  I could not find a way to migrate one artist (my daughter)
>    from Windows to Linux because of this single issue (she is already a
>    Firefox and LibreOffice user).  I don't think she is unusual in her disdain
>    for large-scale change of habits.
>
> I was lucky.  The only complex user was myself.  Others said "I don't need
> the files that much" or they converted them to PDF and manually re-entered
> the files in question.  Everyone that I have converted said it was worth
> the effort because Linux is an excellent financial deal.  All have gained a
> new respect for open source in general.  Me too.
>
>
> Richard
>
>
>
> --
> xubuntu-devel mailing list
> xubuntu-devel at lists.ubuntu.com
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/xubuntu-devel
>
>
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