It's been a year since Mansi gifted her dad with a Dell Inspiron with Ubuntu installed. It's been great so far with no panic calls for viruses or spyware slowing down his laptop. Again bow of the hat to Manas, who tried this experiment first.
So based on my experience, here are some tips when you are searching for a laptop to buy for your non-techie parents:
1. Get a laptop with decent hard disk space and memory. Most of the time, if it's just web browsing and chatting, a Celeron will do. So you can save some money by not opting for a high end Core 2 Duo. I would rather spend money on getting a laptop with a webcam and mic.
2. Choose a brand that has a presence in India. AFAIK, Dell, HP, IBM-Lenovo all are great. But I chose Dell, because I am happy with its customer service.
3. Though it may seem a bit difficult at the beginning for your parents to understand Linux, it will pay off on your time if you select Linux over Windows. For one, they won't click on IE by mistake and unknowingly allow the laptop to be infected by viruses or adware. From my experience, I have seen that once your parents' laptop is infected with either virus or spyware, (i) you end up considerable time finding someone in your neighborhood (in India) to come to your place, look at the laptop and try resolving it. (ii) your parents keep worrying about what virus may affect it next, etc and so on. So to avoid all these issues go for Linux. Select your distro, install it for them (I chose Ubuntu).
If you decide to install Ubuntu, a couple of tips:
1. Install Picasa, so that they can share albums online. Picasa is available by adding Google repos: http://picasa.google.com/linux/thanks-deb.html
2. Install OpenOffice which is in fact a good replacement for MS Office.
3. Something of an option, you could choose to install Dropbox, so that you can share larger files. Dropbox is free and starts with free storage upto 2GB. Dropbox syncs up the files on all laptops with the same account.
4. Skype works like a charm on Linux distros.
5. Install VLC and other video codecs.
6. Last but not the least, set up ssh and vnc on the laptop, so that you can debug and resolve issues online :)
Overall, Linux should be able to provide a worry free User Experience to the older generation :)
Happy Holidays :)
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
An applicant's experience at Job sites
I have been actively applying for positions at various companies. Some are great and some are cumbersome and tiring. I can classify them into 2 groups:
1. Select job and add to job cart followed by atleast 10 clicks till the final submission.
Now if I had 10 jobs in my cart, that would amount to atleast 100 clicks on the "Save and Continue" button. I also forgot to mention that every job needs to know the source of application and that's easily two clicks per application.
2. You make your profile just once and keep updating it. Add jobs to cart and apply. Just two clicks. Some positions require you to fill a questionnaire. Filling a questionnaire is fine as it gives a sense of what is expected from the candidate.
I like the second category better, as it's streamlined and fast. I do not understand why would companies stick to the first category when you know that the candidate's information is not going to change between job applications. But hey, no one's complaining about the job applications in this economy. Just seeing vacancies is a ray of hope in these dark times.
However, applying to jobs is not easy, because you are relying on so many search engines and job sites. Some search sites such as (HJ, LU, LI) are good in searching and displaying positions with the keywords and what opened after your last visit. Some websites like JF and CB spam you with all kinds of stuff. (I have deliberately abbreviated. From my perspective, I have categorized some search sites to be useful and some are spammy)
The only webpage where companies can expect maximum user interaction is on the Employment or Careers page. If that page does not convey information easily, it's disappointing. Some companies still rely on sending resume by fax and that's a bit surprising. Sometimes, I see positions advertised but no way to contact the HR. (I think it's because the company has already tied up with some recruiting company to search for candidates. In that case, we have to be lucky to find the recruiting company first). Also some websites are only compatible with certain browsers (IE-oh ya) (I have stopped using Safari for job applications. IMHO Safari is not compatible on most websites except Apple). I am no User Experience or Human Computer Interaction major, but I am just blogging my disappointment in clicking to death till I finally submit my application. Hoping for better times !!!
1. Select job and add to job cart followed by atleast 10 clicks till the final submission.
Now if I had 10 jobs in my cart, that would amount to atleast 100 clicks on the "Save and Continue" button. I also forgot to mention that every job needs to know the source of application and that's easily two clicks per application.
2. You make your profile just once and keep updating it. Add jobs to cart and apply. Just two clicks. Some positions require you to fill a questionnaire. Filling a questionnaire is fine as it gives a sense of what is expected from the candidate.
I like the second category better, as it's streamlined and fast. I do not understand why would companies stick to the first category when you know that the candidate's information is not going to change between job applications. But hey, no one's complaining about the job applications in this economy. Just seeing vacancies is a ray of hope in these dark times.
However, applying to jobs is not easy, because you are relying on so many search engines and job sites. Some search sites such as (HJ, LU, LI) are good in searching and displaying positions with the keywords and what opened after your last visit. Some websites like JF and CB spam you with all kinds of stuff. (I have deliberately abbreviated. From my perspective, I have categorized some search sites to be useful and some are spammy)
The only webpage where companies can expect maximum user interaction is on the Employment or Careers page. If that page does not convey information easily, it's disappointing. Some companies still rely on sending resume by fax and that's a bit surprising. Sometimes, I see positions advertised but no way to contact the HR. (I think it's because the company has already tied up with some recruiting company to search for candidates. In that case, we have to be lucky to find the recruiting company first). Also some websites are only compatible with certain browsers (IE-oh ya) (I have stopped using Safari for job applications. IMHO Safari is not compatible on most websites except Apple). I am no User Experience or Human Computer Interaction major, but I am just blogging my disappointment in clicking to death till I finally submit my application. Hoping for better times !!!
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