this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2022
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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My mom has a business and mostly uses Windows and Mac OS X; I mentioned Linux because it could help save money.

She is unfamiliar with Linux though; I gave her some basic introduction (uncertain if it's any good, but sure), but I would like to be able to ease her into Linux if she prefers it.

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[–] obbeel@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago

Explain the concept of free software to her: that it is free to use for everyone, and reproducible in case the original programmers aren't interested in it.

Since she is going to use it for her business, she will want to know if it can use peripherals well, which it can in most cases, and if it runs Office. The main document format of the world is .docx, so recommending LibreOffice for the regular user isn't a good idea since the document isn't translated well after edited by LibreOffice. I would recommend OnlyOffice - it's like Google Docs in its features, but it works offline. And it comes bundled with Manjaro, which is an easy to use distribution.