This week the man who normally facilitates our seniors PC users group was selected for jury duty the day before our meeting (Seniors are more likely to serve on juries simply because they often do not have a job that would disqualify them, and they probably have the time). He called me in the evening and asked if I could put together a two-hour presentation for the next day. No problem!

Well, maybe a problem. I had no idea of what to present. Out of desperation I put together a hodgepodge of things quickly and hoped for the best. I packed up two of my EPIA computers to take. One has Windows with Microsoft Office and the other has Linux with Open Office. For giggles, I threw in my flexible keyboard to control them and a touchpad USB pointing device in addition to a standard mouse. Like I said, it was a hodgepodge.

We started the session by acknowledging that since some of the members were buying new Vista computers that come loaded with a lot of crap software, they should get familiar with The PC Decrapifier. This handy little guy can save you lots of work cleaning up a new machine. There were some scattered giggles over the name, but everyone took notes.

Then we went through some typical ways of adding custom features such as downloading and installing themes. The one I used was Egypt Time. Then we looked at changing pointers from the boring hourglasses without changing the whole theme. Does anyone have an idea why you have to click on the mouse folder to get to a pointer tab? It doesn’t really make a lot of sense.

Finally we got to the highlight of firing up a real Linux machine. Most of the members had only heard of Linux, and only one of them had experience with Open Office. They expressed great skepticism that free software could be truly useful. “Does it really have a spreadsheet?” “Is it compatible with Excel?” “Can it save documents that Word can read?” “Can you have both Windows and Linux on the same computer?” “Yes, yes, and yes but I advise avoiding dual booting unless you are very sure of what you want and why it is you want it. Dedicated machines work much better for me.” “Can I install Open Office on my Windows computer?” “Sure.”

After going through the paces, and showing that Firefox and Google work as well under Linux as under Windows, we exercised the office programs. The only fault they found was not really due to the Open Office, but due to Linux. The font selection is sparse and uninteresting compared to what is available and easily installed in Windows. Because I didn’t want to scare anyone off after their first encounter with Linux, I didn’t go into what I had to do the install new fonts on Linux compared to using Bitstream Font Navigator to organize and install my collection of Windows fonts. As it turns out, that did not seem to be a big thing to the members anyway. They were still absorbing the power of Open Office and the fact that the Gnome GUI could be used by novices without too much trouble.

Toward the end of the talk, I emphasized my philosophy that they should stick with their current OS if it meets their needs, but that it is good to have a nodding acquaintance with the alternatives. I will be extremely surprised if any member goes home and installs Linux. The main intent of my presentation was simply to show what else is out there. That rather modest goal seems to have resulted in one of the better received presentations. I was swamped with questions, and several people stayed around to tell me how much they enjoyed it. Since this happened while I was packing, naturally I forgot to pack my power supply — after all, I’m a senior, too.

Click here to read about my new tutorial on helping seniors. The new version has grown considerably over the original. It has more topics and anecdotes, and fewer typos. While you’re at it, check out my expanded tutorial on decision theory.

[tags]alternative system, senior learning, senior computing, tutor, senior education[/tags]