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On Mon, 2010-05-10 at 15:26 +0100, Neil Winchurst wrote: > That is it exactly. A monthly meeting isn't enough. Taking time to get > them started, at their place perhaps, isn't enough. The need is for some > person/people to be available for assistance at any reasonable time. Whenever I have helped people migrate before I have been careful to provide help afterwards, sometimes a heck of a lot. This has been for family and friends though. I would be very reticent about agreeing to be as available for Joe Bloggs who wanders in. It can be very demanding and I rather think my patience is not as bottomless as it might need to be. I have a fair idea where my strengths and weaknesses lie, and tutoring random people is a weak area for me, I would not be keen to give out my phone number to them for instance, and email support is very time consuming and likely to be unsatisfactory for both parties. > Those with a Windows machine could well have many friends and/or > relations with some experience to help. Going over to Linux, however > gently, could make them wonder if the same sort of help will be around. > That is what I am talking about. To a degree, I tend to stay away from those that I feel are going to need an exorbitant amount of help, leave them to Windows for the time being where they are comfortable and have learnt to do what they need. As Linux gains more momentum then those more knowledgeable of computers would be able to help their own friends and family who really do need that extra assistance. Frankly, it doesn't make a lot of difference to me what operating system someone else uses, so long as it does what *they* want. There is little point converting someone who struggled to get as far as they have on Windows and give them another learning curve. For me, I suggest Linux if I know they have a basic knowledge of computers, so far as they can install their own software and perform other simple tasks. If they have no specific windows applications they *must* use, for work or something. Someone who isn't a good candidate would be someone who can barely manage to start IE and gets completely lost if you tidied up the icons on the desktop. Just my thoughts. Wow, that got wordy. Sorry :] -- John Williams My linux blog of notes and guides http://subbass.blogspot.com/ -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html