Hi Sonia,
A very good question. The answers you've received
area also, from my reading, quite reasonable and
considered (come on you lot, where's the ranting
and flaming??? Sheesh, what's happened to you? Ya
wimps!! :))
For my twopennethworth, my s/father has difficulty
coming to grips with something so easy as Linux...
he just sees computers=Windows.
Ten months ago a friend of my wife wanted to
upgrade. I got all the parts through Freecycle
(and a scanner from a rel) then installed
Uboobedoo for her, with all the codecs etc. Gave
her a run through and she's called twice with
problems:
1. Modem broke - gave her another one
2. How do I change where Firefox downloads things.
After the first call, she said, "If I get windows
installed, how would you feel?". I told her that
It'd be okay. It's her machine, not mine; her
decision, not mine. I pointed out all the things
she wouldn't have on the machine and some of the
things she would have to contend with (viruses
etc) but that it was her machine and right to
choose. That was the last time she mentioned it
and appears to be quite happy with everything.
Admittedly I installed VMplayer with Winder2k (her
daughter collects those McDonalds etc CDs), but
she now admits to not having used it.
Someone else made the comment that your
credibility would be diminished if they were
convinced you were wrong and some, more 'dominant'
person in their lives installed
windows-something-or-other for them. It's an
interesting notion, but do you *need* them to see
you as a 'geek', or is it just nice (I like that
rels and friends see me this way, but is it such a
great loss if they don't?). Sure their view of
could be affected, but should this stop you from
offering what your informed opinion suggests?
An alternate view is to say "It's your machine,
I'll install Linux. If you don't like it, you can
have Windows installed on it". When something goes
wrong, they may come back to you or they can
remain stuck with their 'dominant' friend.
I have rels who use Macs (did anyone see the
research that said Macs are for grannies? - I knew
it before and now there's the research) and my
sister-in-law and her husband have just been
convinced to buy one by the other rels (same side)
who have them. I felt conflicted and guilty. I
know nothing about macs and so can now say,
"Dunno, speak to <insert_other_persons_name>" when
they ask me to sort something out or explain how
some thing's done) - I would have liked them to
use Linux (there is nothing they want to do that
it can't do easily), but now I don't have to help
them at all. I feel guilty that they'll now have
to annoy another family member - the one who
couldn't help them with their Windows machine. The
moral of the story (:)) is that they may not see
me as 'all knowing' any more, but I have to work
out if that's a problem for me or my ego! (Well,
Dr Strangelove?)
I'd suggest see how you go. If they want to run
back to Windows, that's okay... it's not your
responsibility to fix anything then and they may
come back.
"If you love somebody, set them free" :)
Regards,
Patrick
>>Sonia Hamilton wrote: Here's an ethical
question for you. I
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
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