Been Through Distro Hop Hell

[JackCoop]

11. Please Don't Misunderstand

I may bitch a lot, but I'm secretly enjoying this frustrating treasure hunt.

In my lifetime, there have been 2 "Evil Empires"... Starbucks (don't know why) and Microsoft.

And a year or so back, I was asked by an elderly lady if I could get her laptop to work again.

She was a Windows XP user, and it had to be wiped out and redone. After saving what personal files she had, of course.

I told her about how XP was going away, and her OS and browser would slow down and eventually stop working... she would no longer get security updates, patches, etc...

She didn't care. She told me she was not going to lay out the money for a new PC because she wasn't going to be around much longer.

I told her about Linux, and she said she didn't want to learn a new OS for the same reason.

She made sense, and I thought about how many other elderly folk like that are in the same situation.

And the bricks and roadblocks I encountered just trying to get her laptop back to working condition and as up to date as possible were mind-blowing.

My hatred of Microsoft grew with every keystroke. Took several days and a number of long nights.

I don't blame Linux at all. In fact I stand in admiration of all the hard work that goes in to he various versions and flavors.

And if that pisses off Microsoft, all that much better.

I just keep thinking, "I must be missing something, something really simple and small."

And... it's just kinda driving me nuts.

But don't worry... it's a short drive.