Help!! I have anti-linux son that needs educated....

[steelaworkn]

Help me out here. My son seems to think that Linux, in general, is useless as compared with MS. Granted, he is still young and is still very teachable. So far I have told him the following:

Linux runs most of the web servers he depends on for internet gaming and surfing
LInux is on many smart phones
Linux is more secure than MS (no details given)

Here is your opportunity to educate a young skull full of mush towards a more well rounded view of computing. Let him know what Linux is used for today and what he can do with it.

[Hlingler]

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=186394

V

[bee]

Poor boy!
It's because, is well known, there are more and better games for Windows than for linux!
Sure, as he's young, let him play and enjoy his favorites games on Windows!
When, he'll need to learn some programming languages, configure a web server, or just a secure environment for online banking (etc...) then he'll switch to linux!
In the meantime, let him play and learn Windows (as you have it )... also because...unlucky, he'll need to know Windows too! and btw, how can he know which OS is the best one if he doesn't know the worst one!??

bye!

[steelaworkn]

He sees all the eye candy but wonders what can be done with it.

[bee]

Originally Posted by steelaworkn

He sees all the eye candy but wonders what can be done with it.

Everything you can do with windows, can be done on linux!!! and a lot more, as you can configure a lot of stuffs on linux!
But, linux Vs. windows, about games... as software house companies don't write a lot of software for linux, Windows will result the winner on this point
Just ask to your son what he wants to do with Windows/Linux... and answer him "It's possible on Linux as well.."
I don't know if your son is interested in programming or in learning how to configure a firewall or a webserver (and how they work) so, about what is interested your son?! (...i hope the answer won't be "in games-only" )

bye!

[steelaworkn]

Originally Posted by bee

Everything you can do with windows, can be done on linux!!! and a lot more, as you can configure a lot of stuffs on linux!!!!!!
But, linux Vs. windows, about games... as software house companies don't write a lot of software for linux, Windows will result the winner on this point
Just ask to your son what he wants to do with Windows/Linux... and answer him "It's possible on Linux as well.."
I don't know if your son is interested in programming or in learning how to configure a firewall or a webserver (and how they work) so, about what is interested your son?! (...i hope the answer won't be "in games-only" )

bye!!!!

Sorry, it's seems to be games only. I did tell him, should he learn coding, he can develop cross platform games using linux as his stable OS.

[bee]

Originally Posted by steelaworkn

Sorry, it's seems to be games only. I did tell him, should he learn coding, he can develop cross platform games using linux as his stable OS.

ahhhh lol
well, then it's just useless trying to convince him, that linux is better than windows you'd better to stop, or he'll associate linux with an OS where you cannot even play (no fun=bad OS ).
I think, you have at first, to know if he wants to code... because if he doesn't care at all, there are nothing to do! If he wants to code and he likes coding to write software, then you can suggest him linux... but at the moment, it seems to me, he's just interested in something else!
What you can do (maybe)... is asking him to use Windows to play...and linux for everything else! ... but - again - if he plays all the day... then you won't have any luck

"I have anti-linux son that needs educated"
maybe you have a son that needs to be educated about what computers are useful for... (other than to play and download porn! )
Linux is only the second step....

bye!

[JohnVV]

Make your son CLEAN all the viruses and malware OFF the windows machine . ( depending on age) have HIM pay for McAfee ( or install one of the free - nagware AV's)
have Him run Spy-bot-SD every week ( before he can go out on Fri. night )
make HIM responsible for the up keep on a win box .

before long he will be on *nix.

Originally Posted by JohnVV

Make your son CLEAN all the viruses and malware OFF the windows machine . ( depending on age) have HIM pay for McAfee ( or install one of the free - nagware AV's)
have Him run Spy-bot-SD every week ( before he can go out on Fri. night )
make HIM responsible for the up keep on a win box .

before long he will be on *nix.

That is pretty much how I have handled it with my children. After they saw how much $ ms cost ,that you have to buy everything you need software wise and just try to keep ms safe and still have access to the things kids want to do. The only problem was that the schools supported ms and it was used in class so they ended up using ms for some things and Linux for all things web related.

[RupertPupkin]

I recommend severe beatings, weekly, until he learns to respect your authoritay!

For whom, steelaworkn or his son?

I just told my eldest son that I was not going to waste time every week running Spybot, updating his anti-virus, cleaning out the bloat of a registry and all the other stuff needed to protect his machine and if he didn't give Linux a try I wouldn't do it any more, so any %^%^& that borked his machine was his problem He was also fed up with me sitting at his machine cleaning out all the ^&^&* so didn't need much persuasion. When it was time to get him a new machine last year I sorely wanted him to have a Mac to make my life even easier (having to install a fresh Fedora every 6 months or year) but he wouldn't have it as it's "too different from Fedora and Gnome"

Wayne

[bob]

You should realize that it's not really linux that he's rebelling against. He's trying to establish his own identity and it generally means rejecting what's told to him, especially by his parents. The more you push something, the more he'll reject it. Let him have his Windows but skip the 'tech support'. If it all crashes, then let him play on your machine while you try (in vain) to straighten out his mess. He may get curious once he's given it a try.

[johannlo]

<Gross generalisation warning>

You'll never get anywhere until he gets beyond games.

Click and install PC gaming IMHO is responsible for the currently dire state of techie skills amongst gen Y and below (borderline GenY myself lol). But all the late 20s-early 30s geeks I know honed their skills getting XMS/EMS/interrupts etc. to work properly for DOS games (remember tweaking autoexec.bat and config.sys lol). Even the wintel guys know/respect command line and can think a troubleshooting issue through from first principles.

The just out of school geeks are all point and click and completely lost unless the first page of their google search gives it to them on a plate. My colleagues' late teens children are all the same, they moan at me about how they have to walk their 16 year old (who spends 95% of their time on their computer!) through a windows rebuild, and I just laugh lol

Point being, when you're young all you want to do is play games (again generalisation lol), and that means windows. Having moved beyond the abomination that was DOS, techie skills are no longer required to get them running, so that 'gateway' experience to real techie stuff is no longer there.

[steelaworkn]

Well, I feel honored, but don't actually think I have earned such an honor. My son called me a computer geek and that's why I like Fedora. Sorry guys, I didn't earn it. He was just angry and didn't know what he was saying. ROFLOL

[marcrblevins]

Let you son have Windows. I'm not a traitor here.

If he is going to college, they are more likely to be running Windows flavor along with his peers. Same for future jobs. Linux is catching up thou.

At least convince him to use Linux thru virtualization. The more OSes you learned, the more geek you get to be.

Cheers.