I'm trying to convince my dad to switch to the Linux. Everyday he complains about his laptop being slow (although it has pretty much same specs like my laptop), the forced updates on Windows 10, how long it takes to load programs and stuff. He only uses Opera and LibreOffice for work, he doesn't have iPhone so he's not locked by iTunes. Perfect case study!

Yet every time I tell him that Linux doesn't force updates on you, runs faster and has all the software he needs, he says that "he's not a programer like I am". Then I reply to him "and that's a thing! Linux Mint for example doesn't even require to open terminal" (plus few years back he wanted to try it out)...

Any tips boys and girls? Should I give up or not? I mean, forcing the change will not do, but I also don't want to hear complains about Windows every day.

Don't turn this into a cult. Windows runs fine if you set up Active Hours and let it install updates like once a week. I've been running the same Windows 10 installation (with new builds installed on top) for 3.5 years with no major issues.

@kamen no no, I don't want to do that. I just want to tell him "hey, there's an better way!"
Also Windows 10 runs terribly slow on HDD drive, but that's my opinion.

I think showing him that he's wrong about is stereotypes would be the best course of action tbh

I agree about the HDD. If you want to do both yourself and your father a favour, buy SSDs for the two laptops.

"the Linux"

Aside from that.. If something works for you it doesn't mean it will just work for others too.

@inaba well, i also know that he actually isn't that non-technical. I mean, it's probably due to the his age... Heck, he even said to me that he stopped being in touch with technology after I got more and familiar with tech.

@kamen well, maybe I would. But in my case, there's a damaged screw in the way of disassembling my laptop. I also would prefer buying a new one, instead of spending money on the current (Dell Latitude E6320 with i7-2620, 4 GB RAM). Plus the Manjaro with KDE runs on it pretty damn well!

Give him a live image to try for an hour

Reasoning with hands-on xp helps :)

here's my 2ct:

- linux is a raw platform that can be used for any use case. Programming is only one of them
- most of smartphones are based om linux. This means that with the right UI it's easy to use af.
- no malware, random crashes, forced updates and all that.
- everything's free
- better performance [beat it window bois. You know it's true], unless you're into games
- no clogging, no slowdowns [I'm still running mint 17.1 on my desktop. Performance hasn't degraded at all!]
- apps can be installed from a check-list [synaptic].
- nearly everything can be fixed or tweaked to one's preferences.
- some UIs, like cinnamon, adopt all the best practices. All this to make it as intuitive as possible.

And then - the demo. Do your homework, make sure you know what you're selling, that everything works as expected. Then show him how easy it is to do bau tasks. Give him a try.

DO NOT overwhelm him. Kde might look slick but it's quite far from windows ui/ux and your dad surely doesn't want to spend hours configuring stuff. I'd suggest either gnome [but it might look too alien as well] or even better - cinnamon [the good ol' start menu, desktop icons and bulky windows with [_#X] at the top-right corner].

I got my dad to try it out a few years ago [hell it was hard to talk him into even trying it]. Now he's planning to linux'ize all the computers at work :) it only took me one demo to plant the seed. Couple of weeks later he wiped windows in one of his servers and installed ubuntu. A few months later - another one. And now I hear talks to install it on all workstations to ease his bau and save shitload of €. :)

Linux is easier for the total newcomer but sounds like your dad has years of experience with windows. That may make the change harder.

Install mint on a usb, boot it and demo it to him. Show him how easy it is.

@athlon so basically you missed something really important about the specs in your rant, there is no SSD

@netikras yeah, I was also thinking Cinnamon on top of the Linux Mint. I'll try with the Live CD (can't believe I haven't thought about it!).

@dontbeevil true, but knowing him he'll be like "no no, you will make a better use of it"

@rEaL-jAsE couldn't agree more...

My 2 cents: you can remind him here and there, but please don't be the "arch is superior and you should use it" guy. If he's happy with it, let him be. If he complains, you can bring up linux, but don't rub it in on every single occasion.