GNU Grandma

Ubuntu, Linux for Human Beings

There are many folks who don't want to make the switch to Linux mostly because they're scarred by thoughts of editing .conf files and hacking for three hours after install just to get their wifi adapter to work. Back in 2006 that might have been the case, but not so much anymore. Ubuntu 11.04 (yes, that's the OS I referenced in my last post) is truly an OS for the twenty-tens.

So, as you may have guessed by the title, I've got one of the awesomest grandmas ever. That's right, my 92 year old grandmother is using Ubuntu Linux. So, what does that mean to the you? It means that after many long hours of hard work, thousands of bug fixes, and a lot of palm sweat, the Canonical team has finally reached their goal: Ubuntu, Linux for Human Beings.

Am I negating my last post about #! Linux? Not at all. My netbook is a... special needs computer. Yeah. It's got an 10 inch screen with 1GB of RAM and a Intell Atom Dual Core with an integrated GPU. But for your average laptop that you'd pick up at Wall-Mart, with even a couple gigs of ram, Ubuntu is really the way to go. Why? Because it works out of the box. That is, right after install, it looks nice and works. Ask anyone about install and you'll be given the same answer, "Ubuntu has the best install process."

I did it, but my grandma could have done the install herself. It's that easy. It asks if you want to use the whole HD, and you click yes, it asks you for your passwords, and asks for your timezone, and it does the rest of the magic. Then you sit back and relax while a progress bar proceeds under a Narwhal. Which, by the way, is a great conversation piece for you and your 92 year old grandma.

So are you undecided about which distro to use on your decently powered laptop computer? Try Ubuntu. It's Linux... for human beings.