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.
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.
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
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.
Dogged stubbornness. I use Linux because I refuse to give MS any more of my money, and I’m too stubborn to give up.
Scarred by abuse, but resolved to escape instead of developing Stockholm syndrome.
Back in the mid 2000s, we (my company) were on Windows, including three Windows 2000 Server licences. And we needed to upgrade. But it wasn’t sustainable for the small company to pay for all these licences, when a free option was available.
So we slowly moved all applications over to cross-platform alternatives, Outlook to Thunderbird (called Firebird in those days), office to OpenOffice (now LibreOffice), Internet Explorer to Firefox, Corel Draw to Gimp, Company software like accounting to a XAMPP stack etc.
Once this was established and running well, we just changed the underlying platform from Windows to Ubuntu/Gnome, cursed for a few days and went on with our lives. And it worked for the past 20 years and counting. Now I am cursing, when I am forced to use Windows and can’t find my butt using it.
So the mindset, if you want, was that of methodical planning and going slow, step by step. This is likely different if you’re a gamer, or you need some very specialised apps, but for me, this was not the case. The games that I play, like Sudoku and Solitaire, work on any platform.
yeah! we are in the process of doing that right now. we are a quite big organisation, so it’ll take more steps, but some departments will have done the switch to foss office stuff in autumn. to the rest of us it’s an option already. linux nay follow in a few … years?
i got win11 on my machine now. the result is: it’s way slower. nice of my employer to push deceleration. sips tea
Mine was that I hate corporations. That’s it. That’s literally all that I needed to figure out Linux.
Willingness to independently learn and the capacity to let the frustration roll off of you. You will occasionally want to bang your head against the wall, but give yourself the grace to learn.
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.
Id say it’s the mindset of the experienced linux user that matters.
If you’re willing to tell a person, “if you run into trouble, call me”, and then follow up when they do, half the fight is over.
Most people, they try it and it’s fine, as long as the basics are there. You show them where the browser and email are, set up desktop shortcuts to important stuff, and answer questions, and they’ll eventually not even think about the fact that it isn’t windows.
But the first time they run into trouble, and you can’t give them an answer in a reasonable amount of time, they blame Linux, because they forgot how long it took them to figure out windows originally, and aren’t willing to look things up even if that’s what they did when they ran into a Windows problem.
So, you gotta play tech support for a while if you’re the one introducing them.
You aren’t going to change mindsets inside someone else in any realistic timeframe.
The most effective motivation is intrinsic. It’s very hard to make someone want to do something. It’d take Apple-level marketing, or Microsoft-level outright paying people to use their products.
Wait, Microsoft pays to use their products?
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.
“I want to know why this is broken. How to fix it can come later.”
“That’s neat, I wonder whether I can configure it…”
One needs to get rid of the “but it works like so and so on Windows” attitude. That fixes half the problems switchers have. :)
