Sven Slootweg @joepie91@pixie.town

(Als het de bedoeling was dat de fabrikant niet te herleiden zou zijn uit de restpartij die ik gekocht heb, dan zijn ze daar niet echt in geslaagd...)

Today I learned: de "Liefde & Passie" stokbroden van de Albert Heijn zijn dus gewoon afbakproducten uit de diepvries, en worden geleverd door Pre Pain uit Oldenzaal

Also, importantly: your friends and relatives are probably not going to care about the gory internal details of a Linux system.

They won't care that there are different "desktop environments", or about the distinction between a DE and a WM, or about different UI toolkits, package managers, whatever. Just skip all that.

What they *are* going to care about is whether it will update automatically, whether the UI matches what they expect, whether they can change the colors, whether the things they need work and are reachable with a single shortcut. They will care about what the system does *for them*.

For example, instead of asking "what desktop environment do you want, GNOME or KDE?", boot a few different live images for them that use different desktop environments (or one that lets you swap) and ask them which one looks the best to them. Then install with that one.

Likewise, don't ask what "distro" they want; pick a distro that will be able to run most things out of the box, and that you are sufficiently comfortable providing support for. If they unexpectedly end up a Linux nerd, they can always switch later.

You are just installing "Linux" for them, configuring it for them based on their preferences, and telling them that you can explain more about any part of it if they're curious to know more. That's it.

Provide details if they ask, but not if they don't, or you'll just overwhelm them. Providing details upfront just makes most people assume that all of it is 'required knowledge', even if that's not what you meant.

Convincing people to give Linux a try is going to be a lot easier when there's a direct, chargeable-to-creditcard cost associated with continuing to use Windows, the thing they are familiar with.

That's your strategic advantage. Just make sure not to waste it by being condescending or patronizing, and always prioritize *their* needs in the process, not yours.

Hey, so, in light of Microsoft killing off Windows 10 in October (https://digipres.club/@misty/114190352645015060)...

If you want more people to use Linux, now would probably be a good time to start talking to your friends and relatives about how Linux will still work and get updates and, most importantly, *offer to help them setting it up and keeping it working*.

And ideally, take notes of what problems they run into, because those notes are going to give you a pretty good idea of what needs changing for Linux to become more widely usable to people. Maybe you could even contribute some of the fixes yourself!

I also love the discussion threads that are all like "oh but that's a myth, Edison didn't 'rip off' Tesla, he just ran a company that Tesla worked for and that patented the company's intellectual property"

My guy, my dude, etc.

Hot take: anyone trying to market their company as being "inspired by Nikola Tesla" is more like Thomas Edison than they are like Nikola Tesla.

(You know, the Edison whose whole shtick was to run a tech company that patented their employee's work and so falsely claimed credit and extracted profits)