The Linux Challenge: The Concept (Part 1)

Today I'm going to start what I consider to be the ultimate challenge to see if Ubuntu Linux is ready for the mainstream. The "challenge" is to see if my father can use a computer without getting too frustrated. A little background on my dad he is a man who has literally never used a computer. Now this kind of a risky move, since my mom is very much a basic Windows user and will probably try to help my dad perform basic tasks. So the challenge isn't all in the distributions hands the environment surrounding the user (my father) will also play a big role.

So you may be asking yourself, well if you already have one Windows user in the house why not just give him a Windows box and let your mom help out? Well mostly because my mom really doesn't use Windows very well but I've purposely trained her to do the tasks she needs to do on the computer so she doesn't really understand what she does. The other reason is that with all of the problems my mom had I wasn't able to troubleshoot her issues over the phone very effectively, Linux will give me a better option with the power of SSH. I could go on about my reasoning for this decision but I'll save that for a later date.

The basic goals for the challenge are pretty simple

Have a computer that can connect to the internet safely
- How this will be achieved
-Connect to Internet through dial-up
(Yes, I know I'll get them on Cable/DSL one of these days)
-Firewall (It's Linux, take your pick many different firewalls)

Provide a User Interface that can be easily taught
- How this will be achieved
-Point and Click are pretty straightforward
-The biggest issue my dad doesn't like English, meaning the UI needs to have the ability to
switch from English to Chinese (Mandarin) and visa versa

Allow for basic remote access to fix issues
- How this will be achieved
-SSH (very little I can't fix over SSH)