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I'm a whole lot less computer literate than I was when I attempted it in my 20s, I also really only play some games nowadays and binge watch stupid on YouTube... the computer has become less of my life in my 40s so learning a new system sounds like... work.
Look, to be perfectly honest, I've had to do far less "computery" bullshit on Linux. After about six months of everything just working fast and flawless, I realised Windows is the OS that requires a pretty high level of computer literacy. Even installing Linux is a simple and quick breeze compared to Windows.
All it took was a final, "Oh, for fuck's sake! That's it! I'm fucking done!" moment. I just didn't want to do it anymore. Never had one since. Using a computer is a nice thing again.
I 100% recommend Linux for grandparents!
This is exactly my experience too, after 6months things just worked. Only Pop_OS's new major update broke that a little bit, but is now for the most part back to just working like they used to or has been improved.
Windows that I have on a laptop keeps being annoying with its sudden updates that slows down everything, and not taking no for an answer when I press not fucking now or ever.
It's fast and easy and no big deal until you want to do something radical like create a shortcut and pin it to your taskbar, or share a folder on a home network. Or share your screen with a TV... there have been too many damn times where I've wanted to do something that should be simple and the matter of a couple clicks but it sends me down a rabbit hole chasing dependencies and searching terminal commands and spending hours doing something that takes less than a minute on mainstream operating systems. My user experience has drastically improved since I swapped to Plasma but don't pretend everything works perfectly and intuitively immediately for everyone unless the expected use case is literally turning it on and opening a browser.
I empathize with this even as a highly computer literate person who works in tech. I turn 40 this year, and when I’m off the clock, I need to read books, touch grass, and live my life as if I don’t know how computers work.
I think this is a very valid reason. I used to reinstall Windows every 6 months or so for various reasons, switching to Linux wasn't any more work. But if you don't enjoy researching, installing OSs, etc then it's only ever going to feel like a chore.
For me it's not about whether it is more work or not. It is more along the lines of, tolerating microsoft's bullshit for any longer. Windows 10 in more ways than one, has teetered me towards the edge of switching. Because I hate stupid mandatory updates, I hate how insultingly stupid it is to use a Windows system these days and every dumb decision Microsoft has made that has turned Windows into what it is and what it will be in the future.
I won't mind a little work to use my machine, long as it frees me from all of that bullshit.
If the current situation hasn’t gotten you to switch then you’re not gonna switch in 2032. You’ll probably just have some other excuses.
Bazzite seems like it would fit perfectly with you then
I've used old computers for phasing out certain social networks - e.g. I'd block Facebook on my main computers, and only access it on my old laptop. That's been quite effective. You could do that, and just use Linux Mint or Xubuntu on that old laptop. Very real learning necessary, and you do manage to break it somehow, it's not a big deal.