So it's happened; mom's venerable Dell has bit the dust and I'm being called on to find her a new laptop. Everything I've seen here and elsewhere says Windows 10 is a privacy nightmare and we're trusting Microsoft's forced automatic updates to not break the computer. Dell is still offering computers with Win 7 and 8.1, but Microsoft is pushing the OS upgrade hard and heavy. I'd love for her to let me set her up with Linux but she's devoted to Google Picasa (Google not porting their apps is another rant) and I'm not sure how often she's going to be calling me with some Windows only program she needs. And then there's Apple, which makes my fingers itch to type, but it's looking better and better. So, what is the collective wisdom of the Soylentils*?
*Irony duly noted.
(Score: 2) by joshuajon on Wednesday November 04 2015, @03:46PM
In my experience XFCE is a lot more intuitive than KDE when coming from Windows. One launcher menu and a taskbar is what these people need. NOt friggin "Plasma active activities" whatevertf those are.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday November 04 2015, @07:19PM
You don't have to use those, and the default install doesn't come with any.
Don't get me wrong, I like XFCE4, but KDE is far more powerful while at the same time easier to use.
I use it daily on OpenBSD, and any instance of Ubuntu.
Especially for new users, it presents a much more familiar interface, especially if you use classic style launcher (menu).
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by joshuajon on Thursday November 05 2015, @01:57PM
I'll admit I haven't used KDE in a few years. I remember being somewhat confounded by some of the UI elements though. It may have changed considerably since that time though.
My limited experience with Cinnamon also suggests that may be a good option for those making the transition from Windows.