We all have opinions on how to procedurally get someone started using Linux. To mixed effect. I wonder if we could be more successful if we paid closer attention to the machine between the seat and the keyboard. What mindsets can we instill in people that would increase the likelihood they stick with it? How would we go about instilling said mindsets?
I have my own opinions I will share later. I don’t want to direct the conversation.
These are some rules of mindset I’ve given to others in the past when trying linux-based operating systems.
- Don’t try to apply the same computing and productivity patterns you’ve learned from Windows. Don’t try to force Windows concepts onto Linux OS, you will confuse yourself and get frustrated.
- If something doesn’t work the way you expect it to, doesn’t mean it’s broken.
- Just because something doesn’t behave the same as in Windows, doesn’t mean it’s worse. It’s probably designed that way for a good reason.
- If your daily work routine or gaming life revolves around the use programs developed specifically for the Windows platform, you’re gonna need to invest time and effort to try to recreate that in Linux. It may not even be possible to fully replicate it. And that’s not the fault of Linux, it’s not designed to be a drop-in Windows replacement.
- Everyone has their own taste and preferences. Just like some people prefer driving a manual car and some prefer auto. If you try Linux and hate it, that’s okay, that doesn’t make you bad or wrong, but keep in mind that those who do prefer Linux are not weird or daft or wrong either.
One needs to get rid of the “but it works like so and so on Windows” attitude. That fixes half the problems switchers have. :)
Patience. Same things will work differently than you’re used to, and that can be frustrating.
Also be really sure to help true beginners understand software centers and package managers. I’ve been helping a lot of young people use Linux for the first time this year. Even though I mentioned it the first day and remind them frequently, if for example I ask them to install Java, half of them will download installers from Oracle’s website or wherever.
Just start with something like mint that will probably mostly work.
It’s software that’s made by people for people. I think it’s kind of wild that you can get a full-featured operating system with no strings attached. Normally, if something is free it means that you’re the product, but this is not (seemingly?) the case with FOSS stuff.
Because I rather burn my computer than use win11, oh and I also rather flush my money in the toilet than buy apple’s products so Linux is the only real choice
For me it was that I don’t want a goddamn spying, AI infested, laggy, ugly, rounded, babysitting win11, so I need to get out of the bill gates ecosystem. And I did, quite easily.
I would say willingness to learn and to compromise. And by compromise i’m mainly talking about trying to find alternatives to software that might not exist on linux, and see if those work for you. And if you end up finding a piece of software you need that really has no good alternative to what you need, you can always either go the virtual machine route, or the dualboot route, but i personally think that should be considered a last resort.
Mindset / traits
-Experimental mindset - why not try it out. (Doesn’t look for reasons not to try it out).
-Likes computers/ maths intrinsically (a bit), rather than just uses them.
-Ruined some toys / electronics / appliances in their house because “If it ain’t broke, fix it until it is”. or just, " Well it has screws, so it’s obviously supposed to come apart".
-Prepared to accept that free or cheaper stuff might be adequate. (price is not necessarily a signal of quality)
-Less afflicted by sunk cost - “I already kow how to use windows, or at leady i would if they didnt keep changing stuff”.
-They think Excel is shit for anything but a few basic small tables and know they should be using a proper database and/or code rather than insane fornulae and the odd bit or garbled vba vs the "I am a master of excel, and i love it because , look, i can coerce it to do all this cool stuff , excel can do EVERYTHING if you’re as good at it as me. Nobody needs anything else to do anything. "
-Seen enough BSOD that they’ve got nothing left to lose.
As for change: Number 1 is India by miles, so keep India growing I guess. So outwith India . . .
I don’t know how many of these are intrinsic vs malleable. I don’t think linux desktop (as per current mainstream linux distros) will ever be very widespread. Unless it is packaged into something very sanitised like chrome os, android, steam deck os. or like macos did with BSD.
Create a few enthusiasts maybe by give kids more toys like cheap knock-off lego, and real tools, less pokemon apps. Raspberry pi might be a gateway drug - shame its moved up the price scale. piZeroW2 is still pretty cheap and runs a more or less usable debian/LXDE - for basic stuff. Better to be using GPIO to do fun stuff with motors, gears, pulleys, sensors, solenoids even just blinkys.
Per the last two, that’s mostly up to MS to help. You can get some milage taking someones excel that theyre proud of, cut the calculation time in half within excel (to prove you know what you’re talking about), then tell them excel is shit, this still too slow/inefficient/unmaintainable/unscaleable , there are better ways. PSA - A lot of people will react badly to that method, so learn a few basic self defense blocks first or do that stuff over videoconference. I think this needs to be developed into a more sensitive implementation of the D.E.N.N.I.S system. Maybe that is what bill gates already did to 1 million corporate procurement teams?
“That’s neat, I wonder whether I can configure it…”
Persistence, willingness to learn or open curiosity, and responsibility.
Persistence because sometimes when learning things, you’ll run into problems and will need persistence yo overcome them.
Willingness to learn or open curiosity because otherwise you’re in a rut and inflexible which makes learning differences between Win/Mac and Linux almost impossible or at least much harder.
Responsibility because you are in charge of your system and your laptop/pc. You need to take responsibility for learning how to do things, solving problems, doing updates, etc.
Sadly, these days people lack most of these qualities. So many people want things handed to them on a silver platter or to have their hands held and told exactly how yo do something instead of working it out for themselves. And people don’t want responsibility - they want someone else to be responsible, someone else to blame and someone else to do the thinking.
A lot of Linux adoption won’t change until there’s also a culture shift :/
“I want to know why this is broken. How to fix it can come later.”
Mine was a final straw with Microsoft and a determination to learn. Thankfully linux mint is pretty user friendly and I haven’t really ran into issues yet
You have to want to use FOSS software. If you want to use certain proprietary applications then buy the commercial platform they run on.
The other is interest and ability to solve your own tech problems.
Keep in mind there are a lot of ways to start. Install it in a VM, buy hardware with Linux installed, or install it yourself.
Mine was that I hate corporations. That’s it. That’s literally all that I needed to figure out Linux.
