On Thu, 24 Sep 2009, Anne Wilson wrote:
On Thursday 24 September 2009 17:50:37 Ron Loftin wrote:
My image of the "low-tech" user is the one who surfs the Web, reads and writes e-mail, and does the odd letter or maybe even a spreadsheet in some office tool, along with maybe some simple games. My experience with this category of user is that when they stumble across something unfamiliar or want some additional function, they pick up the phone and call me.
I recognise that description ;-D
It's the "Give a man a fish/Teach a man to fish" scenario. I've long-since stopped setting up machine for anyone in that category. They _must_ figure things out for themselves (with hints from me perhaps), then they've learned something valuable and are better able to fend for themselves from that point on.
Preferably hand them a set of CD's or a DVD and say "have fun". They have a sense of ownership and of accomplishment that way too. Remember how proud you were when you could finally say "I don't depend on MS anymore!"?
Family is the only category where I make (rare) exceptions, but my kids are already showing me a thing or two these days about Linux so I needn't worry about them anymore.