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3 yr. ago

Just tippy-tappin' my way across the internet.

  • I have, but that’s not the point. There are places you can take a computer and say “hey, I’d like one Windows installation, please.” There are exceedingly few places that would help an old person set up a Linux installation, at which point theyre at the mercy of whatever nerd in their life will do it, and then just hoping they don’t move or die.

    Im specifically not expecting them to do it themselves, which is why I think Linux is not a good option.

  • I don’t get the point of playing what if.

    If Linux somehow grew its market share to 80% of all users then there probably would be some form of support-based business or companies forking off their own version and building their own supported platforms, and the we end up with a bunch of closed platforms competing for all the money by offering a more polished experience for a premium.

    Or none of that happens. I don’t know, this is all just make-believe because it’s a scenario that’s never going to happen.

  • To be clear, I didn’t say Linux is never suitable for elderly people. I said it’s not the best, which is the claim the original article made.

  • Because it’s hard to support employees and compete with corporate behemoths like Microsoft and Apple when your product is a free, open-source OS?

  • But you get that not everyone has you on speed dial to fix things, right? That’s my point.

    Also, you can get a used MacBook Air in great condition for that price. Or a slightly older Pro. You just can’t get the absolute latest and greatest, but for that price you were never going to anyway, so it’s sort of moot.

  • It’s not because it’s not used by the common public, it’s because there aren’t normie-friendly resources and or a company help desk that average people rely on when they need assistance. It’s all well and good for people to say these things are easy to learn and they don’t break, it in the real world, for people who don’t really care about this stuff but have to use it for a few random tasks, it’s nice to know there’s a place that will help you. Not everyone has a techie friend or relative.

    The issue is not with the software itself (although there are issues there) as much as it is with non-commercial nature of Linux. It’s great that there’s a thriving community of people who are passionate about this stuff and get great use and enjoyment out of it, but many of the reasons people love it are also reasons why it will probably never be a viable mainstream option.

  • Im not saying it’s impossible, but it’s not “the best”. Even in your example, you set everything up. But if something goes wrong, will you be there to fix it? With a Mac, which is lately idiot-proof, if something breaks there’s an easy number to call or places you can take your machine.

    Again, not saying it’s unusable, but just being usable wasn’t the claim.

  • Hilarious. In what world is a Linux a good choice for “Elderly people who are not familiar with advanced technology and prefer clean and simple computer usage”.

    The elderly people I know already struggle with the systems they’ve used for years. And when something goes wrong, they can ask basically anyone and someone will be able to help them.

    Now insert Linux (which “flavour”? Who knows, pick one) and see who can help with even basic tasks or problems. This is fantasy shit.

  • Yeah, it’s really not good, especially because the people I’ve seen use this stuff the most are the ones who would rarely ever question the quality of the work it does or bother to make sure it’s accurate.

    And because managers and business owners see “productivity” increase, they expect that that’s the new standard, and AI will essentially just have made doing quality work harder for everyone involved.

  • That’s the trick, you don’t read them.

    Person A creates an email with AI, attaches a ppt created with AI, and send it to person B.

    Person B gets AI to summarise the email and ppt, and create a response.

    Repeat.

    It’s an ouroboros of shit.

  • Web 4, now with Grift 2.

  • Web 4 — it’s web 3 but this time the grift is slightly different.

  • What are the chances that it won’t cause extinction, but will just make things a bit (or maybe a lot) worse for a lot of people?

    I don’t think any reasonable people are all that concerned with doomsday scenario as much as with the slow march towards a bullshit future.

  • That’s fair. You could still have that same functionality through something like double tapping the shift key (like it currently works on iPhones) but I guess that might also be hard for some people on a physical keyboard?

  • I know they did, and I’ve only heard praise for it.

    I’ve even remapped my caps lock on my Mac to be another modifier key. I can still tap it to toggle caps lock, but I don’t think I’ve ever used it for that.

  • Just replace the caps lock key.

  • Brain transplants into completely healthy bodies could help too, but since neither are available right now, I don’t get what the purpose of this article is.

  • There are high-schoolers alive today (maybe even in this thread) who were born after Apple stopped charging for updates. Maybe it's time to get some new jokes.