What happened?
So 2 days ago I was getting back on my family desktop, but I noticed that Windows was slow, like VERY slow. I hear the hardware making decently loud noises all the time
Ok, then it’s a great opportunity to switch to Linux!
No! You see, it’s a family desktop and it’s been there for 10+ years, which means if I install another operating system, 10 years of familiarity will be vanished! Even if I choose a distro with a Windows-like UI, the apps supported there aren’t garenteed to be recognized by my parents! Maybe they could tolerate Firefox and mayyyybe Ungoogled Chromium, but that’s about it
Ok, did you asked your parents?
I told them I thought about it. My mom doesn’t use it for personal stuff at all and my dsd uses it for YouTube, word, excel, etc, so nothing too crazy. OnlyOffice (and LibreOffice from what I heard of) does support Microsoft’s file types. I asked them if they could toleratebthe alternative software. My dad said he would think about it. Currently, he said that we don’t have a USB with big enough storage space to fit all the data in to backup and restore on the new OS. But my parents are surprisngly open when it comes to my personal discsions. So, hope isn’t yet lost
Conclusion and solutions
It’s a gray area for now. Idk if my parents could tolerate Linux Mint, but if they could, that’s a massive win. If I could figure out how to dual-boot, then it’s a possible middle ground. Another possible middle ground is running Windows within Virtual Box for my parents. Best case scenario: The open-source alternatives are good enough for my parents’ use cases
It sounds like your computer is on its last legs and your parents are computer illiterate/indifferent.
Best case they just won’t use the computer. Worst case they’ll blame the computer kicking the bucket on your linuxing.
I keep getting nudged into tech-supporting my MIL. She had a very aging Windows 8 laptop set up in a language I don’t speak that well. Also I haven’t used Windows for almost 30 years. What could possibly…
We bought her mid-range Chromebook and haven’t had any issues for two years.
Potentially my parents could have a dmall chance of tolerating Linux. As I said, my parents are surprisngly open-minded. I mean, I installed CoMaps and Offline Translator for mom to at least try them. But I get it if an OS is a completely different story
I don’t actually get it why is OS a different story - they don’t sound like advanced users so all they use the OS is for UI to click on icons to run apps?
15-20 years ago in my parents distro-hopping days (I never really gave them much choice, but due to hardware & distro changes over time they used a new distro every few years, then after that Debian for the longest time, now Tumbleweed for maybe 5~7 years) they didn’t actually much notice changes in OS or DE. I do get (rare) questions if a very specific function changes, but that’s usually within an app (eg in Firefox).
(About the same experience with grandparents & non-gaming friends.)
That said I ofc recommend buying an additional (new/used) SSD, installing Linux on it, copying the relevant data from the Windows hard drive to it, & then disconnecting the power to the old drive (before all that you gotta have a backup of all the important things as standard practice, after installing Linux too).