You can absolutely contact Microsoft (or Apple) for support, plus basically any computer store will happily charge a small fee for basic tech support, or you can call the computer manufacturer or reseller. On the Linux side, unless you bought from something like System76, the chances of you finding an official support network that an elderly person would find usable and accessible are pretty slim.

That’s absolutely not the idea I have in my head. If you read most of my replies here, I think I explain pretty clearly that the main issue I see with Linux is not actually the software itself, it’s that there’s not a good, normie-friendly support system for when things do go wrong or things aren’t immediately obvious.

I also tend to advocate for MacOS more than Windows. Although I’ve used both my whole life, I find macOS a lot more intuitive than windows, and I would generally never recommend windows unless there’s a specific need for it.

Mid 60s and up, around retiring age (or at least that’s retiring age where I am).

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.

deleted by creator

Ooh, I’d never heard of Elk before. Just checked it out and it’s really nice — might have to make it my web client now. Thank for sharing!

Maybe there are a few examples of this, but in general this is just a blatant lie.

I’ve never been much of a Christmas person. But 2020-2022 were the most Christmasy I’ve ever felt (probably because we were at home and decided to embrace with a tree and roast dinner etc it rather than our usual travelling holiday).

Now that we’re fully back to our old lifestyle, I don’t even notice that it’s Christmas/end of year until someone brings it up.

I don’t necessarily miss the memes, and a lot of the jokes would get repeated to death because everyone wanted their chance to say them, but I do find some of the Lemmy communities I follow can be kinda self-serious at times. I guess with a larger audience (Reddit), there was just more room for a joke or meme to land without derailing the thread or annoying people.