I agree with you on some of your points, but c'mon give the woman a break. Her mindset in dealing with computers is narrow. If you are not extremely computer savvy, and you have only been exposed to Windows, that is what you are going to feel most comfortable going with, LOL
Most users want to pop in a CD or log in easily, etc, send their assignments quickly. Which you can do with Linux I am assuming probably fairly easily, you just have to get used to it, installing a distro is not for the faint hearted, partitioning disks, I am too afraid to do a dual boot, because I do not want to screw up my new Dell. I don't have an old laptop to practice on either. Linux seems to be for people that like to tinker.
I do not have hardly any Linux exposure except downloading a few freebie programs because I was too cheap to pay for the software. Honestly if you want more people to adopt Linux, start with that, people will get hooked with the free software, and then maybe think of adopting Linux as their OS. Just my opinion.
Also when you are starting an online program and you have never been in an online learning enviroment, you will have to grasp the way to use Blackboard or Angel or whatever the school uses effectively but getting your feet wet with one class with the level of what her current computer skills are at now.
Most people do not have the curiousity that would entail them to learn another OS. I just bought a Dell with Vista on it. I didn't buy MS Office because OO works perfectly fine and the docs can be saved in a Windows format. I might use a portable disc if I decided to use Linux, but it would never be my main OS because I am not partitioning my hard disk.
I am sure my opinion on this subject will be in the minority, but it is a woman's perspective. I also thought the person who said she should not be at a technical college at her age was extremely insulting, you can learn a lot about computers if you sleep, eat and breath it for a year and be up to speed, hell it changes so quickly anyway. But hey, you are right she is not a "self starter" or Nancy Drew. Maybe technical college will turn her into one, LOL