Linux Journal: Interview with a Grandmother

“Over the last decade Linux has been gaining in a number of
markets, most notably in the server arena. Recently, the march onto
the desktop has begun and the PDA market has opened up as well.
There are also clusters and supercomputers. However, there is one
more market where Linux could make more inroads: the home user. A
few articles are around regarding techies who have helped their
non-techie friends and family members get running with Linux. But
what about the non-techie home user doing it all by themselves?
Could a home user, say a grandmother of three, use Linux with no
help from anyone but the vendor’s normal support system? This is
the story of one such grandmother and her entrance into the
wonderful world of Tux…

“Being the good son that I am, I decided that she needed a
change. Earlier in 2002 I had written a mini-review of OEone’s
HomeBase Linux for Linux Weekly News. I thought it would make a
perfect system for her. After talking to the people at OEone, they
offered to ship a pre-installed system to my mother for her to use
and allow me to write about her experience. One reason that I
wanted to go with a pre-installed system is I wanted her to get a
computer that was functionally like the one she was using. She
hadn’t had to install Windows 98 on the old box, so why even bother
with a Linux install1? A few days after I spoke with OEone the
system arrived. The following is an interview with her where she
tells exactly what it’s like to ‘switch’ to Linux…”

Complete
Story