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Re: [LUG] Thoughts about Older Newbies

 

I will be 60 next year, I hae been using Linux (Mint) since 2008, perhaps it is true that I am an old fossil, I certainly can't handle this MS Windows thingy any longer.


From: Neil Winchurst <barnaby@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, 29 September 2011, 11:48
Subject: Re: [LUG] Thoughts about Older Newbies

Keith Abraham wrote:
>
> Do I detect incipient ageism here? The notion that because someone is
> of a certain age they will find it difficult to learn?

Not at all. See below.

>
> After a long time dis-satisfaction with the Microrsoft OS I took up
> Linux in 2001 at the age of 59. True I did dabble with it some years
> earlier on and Atari Falcon. Back in 2001 Linux on the desktop was
> difficult ie sparse printer, video and multimedia stuff and I had to
> endure the shock of stuff I could no longer do. But I saw Linux's
> potential and there were no great insurmountable obstacles. Any little
> problems only needed a bit of self application reading and help from
> others (well nearly!). These is just the sort of things any convert to
> Linux is going to experience, young or old.
>
> The barrier to conversion is not age. What's required is only
> application , average intelligence and a willingness to ask questions.
> Age doesn't come into it.
>
> Keith
>
Absolutely not ageism. What I am finding with older people that I have questioned is not that they are worried about their ability to learn or that they are worried about acquiring new skills. It is simply that they want to use their computer for, just as I said, a bit of browsing and a few emails, and nothing more.

They are simply not interested in all the extras that are now available. That is why I was suggesting Xubuntu which I feel has enough to satisfy the requirements of our older citizens. Of course if they are more ambitious it should be easy to give them more too.

My brother, for instance, when I started to show him some of the extras now available, said he was not interested in all that stuff. If he could browse the internet and send and receive emails easily that was fine by him. Anything beyond that was simply too boring to bother about.

And Xubuntu is based on Ubuntu so there should be plenty of help around.

Neil

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