I must say....I got really excited. I hoped that someone had finally coded a GOOD cookbook/recipe/mealplanner application, and that it was SO GOOD slashdot picked it up. Open source, minimal bull to get it running, and can export to any format.

I am dissappoint.

1. Submitter mentions constant problems. From this we already know their level. They've taken their test IRL, and already failed.

2. You could spend lots of time creating documentation for them to read and understand, but it wouldn't work and nobody would want to do it.

3. You get a program that solves everything and is the overall cheapest solution you can get: An antivirus that locks most of the vulnerable areas down, while still letting them browse randomly.

Think of the school system. You do not test someone prior to teaching them.

Install an antivirus that locks down their computers: tracking changes in everything except for My Documents and their desktop. Registry changes should also be rare...they shouldn't be installing anything.

Done.

On that one monthly test thingie where they compare all the antivirus apps, it apparently ranked pretty high in the last month. Which caused mass confusion and excitement, and why everyone here is recommending it. Including me.

It works.

IIRC it's the lightest, free antivirus with an on-access/on-demand scanner already installed.

AVG 8.5 installed on a co-worker's computer didn't catch a WONDERFUL webpage spoofing attack that asked for her pin number. Luckily she called me. I went to try Avast, but now it was harder to register and they took out the options to make the program operate silently (ie it forces you to use a dialog box for restart or force a restart, whereas in 4.8 there was an option for "Update on Next Restart", an awesome feature).

Just heard a good review the day prior of MSE and installed it, updated definitions, did a quick scan which found 3 other things, and then a full scan which found the main culprit. It also apparently cleaned (not deleted) a Windows Backup file with the virus on an external drive, ensuring that their backups are actually working properly. I've had Avast delete these on me in the past, losing vital backups.

It takes up little resources, is free for ANYONE (ie, most are only free for Home AND non-commercial use...which means non-profits are shit outta luck), and JUST WORKS.

I heart it. so. hard.

I've found that Mint is slowly trying to break away from its initial Ubuntu base. They use alot of the code, but they throw in enough customization that it feels better overall. I love it. I just grab the torrent and the windows installer from pendrivelinux.com and persistent install it on a flash drive in 10 minutes.

Your tin foil hat is on too tight, son. Especially when it comes to grocery lists.

I'm not locked into anything actually. We had one client that had to leave the firm and she requested that I transfer all mail to another account. I did so very easily. Your nonsense of them reading my emails is scaredy-cat idiocracy at work.

Their IMAP and POP servers work with my blackberry and outlook just fine, and I don't need more than that. I don't need phone service for such a simple product with no problems.

Your paranoia is troll-like and your arguments are piss poor. Please, go lurk moar in the Exchange cave. My 25 person non-profit couldn't be HAPPIER for the last year with the money they've saved.

I think we'll be sticking with Server 2003 until the cows come home lol.

Asterisk for the phone server. Worked out well. We were severely getting ripped, and our hardware was from the early 90's.

Only thing I had to train people on in OpenOffice was Mail Merge. Everything else they could figure out. But yea....definitely try out LinuxMint if you get a chance. I keep a persistent version on my flash drive at all times, and used pendrivelinux's installer to make it that way. http://www.pendrivelinux.com/install-linux-mint-8-to-a-flash-drive-in-windows/

Asterisk.

Threw it in an old desktop server, added some magic, and POOF.

It was infinitely cheaper than their current solution.

Comment to your 3rd point:

I will use my free copy of Office 2003 until the day I die.

Similar scenario.

I'm interning at a 25 person non-profit. They were putting thousands into Exchange. I did 4 things:

1. Switched them over to Google Apps for free. Saved them loads of money, and they all love having the ease of access. To the exchange admin below, suck it. Seriously, that one outage was nowhere near as bad as the spam problems and other hassles an offsite exchange server created.

2. Got the people who "just couldn't" use gmail's web interface copies of Outlook 2007 through techsoup. Which, after 3 months of switching, was only the secretary and the president.

3. Switched our 5-computer lab for visitors and program members over to linuxmint. It needs no configuration, let alone administration, and its better than the prior windows 2000 by far.

4. Set up Hamachi for remote file access, because nobody used the VPN anyways (cause "my home computer is so slow and full of WeatherBug!").

5. Set up an open source phone server. It was a PITA, but it was WAY better than renting terrible equipment from the phone company.

They use them at Sewickley Valley Hospital in PA to send stuff around the Lab area on the 6th floor, and to send samples from the 2nd floor upstairs.

People love it. It's worth every penny.

The only realistic use that I can think of is finally building a working version of Ed's computer from Cowboy Bebop. http://imgur.com/5SpiR

And trust me, I've had the SketchUp diagrams for 3 years, waiting for this.

Well luckily we had nixon and ping pong :)