I must tip my hat to the developers of Ubuntu.
My wife’s friend Michael isn’t quite computer literate. He was complaining to my wife about how he always got viruses. She told him how we don’t since we use Linux instead of Windoze. He didn’t understand how you can use a computer without Windoze on it. She told him we would give him an install disk so he can try it out. I handed him the disk and told him to follow instructions.
About an hour later he called, asking where all his stuff was. He had successfully installed Linux without any help, but was confused by the default empty desktop, since the installer told him it had imported all his crap. I pointed him over the phone to the “Places” menu, and he got it. He wasn’t online last I heard because he had to find out what his grandpa’s router’s WPA key was, but other than those tiny hitches, someone who didn’t even know you could replace Windoze managed to install Ubuntu with no help!
If you have a good connection and a burner, why not download Ubuntu yourself, and give it a try too? If you don’t have broadband or a burner, Ubuntu will even send you a free install CD! You can run it side by side with Windoze, and delete it if you don’t like it after a week or two, so you have nothing to lose, but a great deal of frustration.
