A social group for golden oldies

[hazel]

I think we ought to have a social group for us oldies. There seem to be a lot of us about on this forum. I don't mean the "Saga generation" - 50 isn't old in my book, it's middle-aged. I mean people old enough to be drawing their pensions. I have a theory that Linux is more suited to us than to the young geeks it's traditionally associated with.

We lived through post-war rationing and some of us through the war as well; we have thrift built into our bones and we resent having to upgrade our computers or buy new ones just to satisfy the resource demands of bloated software.

Many of us worked in offices in the 70s and 80s, using command line tools. We can all remember learning how to use a mouse and not finding it remotely intuitive. I recall asking the man who taught me how the heck I was supposed to remember what all those icons stood for.

We distrust technology and are paranoid about security so we need systems we can easily learn to understand, systems that don't do unwanted things behind our backs. We don't want to have to ask all the time, "What's that bl**dy machine up to now?"

Also a lot of us have the community-based mindset of the 1940s and distrust rampant capitalism, so we like the idea of an operating system that exists for the benefit of its users and not to make profits for some big company. We like free speech, but we also like free beer, because we tend not to have a lot of disposable income.

Well, what about it?

[Dapper Dan]

hazel, I don't know what the "retirement" age is in the U.K. but in the U.S. it's 65. Some private companies allow retirees to draw pensions much earlier. At what age does one qualify to be a member? I like the idea and hope it blossoms.

[hazel]

Over here it's currently 60 for a woman and 65 for a man, but it's going up. I think over 60 would be a good cut-off point for this group.

[Rubberman]

Works for me Hazel! Being a Boomer from the 40's, my first computer (if you don't count my K&E LogLog Trig Duplex - the Mercedes of slide rules) was a mainframe in engineering school, which of course they wouldn't let me near! I had to submit my Fortran programs as a stack of punch cards to a guy behind a glass window...

[MikeTbob]

You guys already created a new group, nice!
For those that don't know, you can find the social groups here.
Linux Forums - Social Groups

[waterhead]

Damn, I'm only (counts fingers) 53. And I didn't get my first computer until 2002. I guess that counts me out.

I did have to use Windows 3.1 and up, at work. And I think that the computer that ran our water plant was Unix, but it was replaced shortly after I started, so I didn't interact with it.

Edit: The hard times for me was when Ronald Reagan was the U.S. President. The hard times continued through with George Bush Sr. Things got much better when Clinton was Prez.

[hazel]

Damn, I'm only (counts fingers) 53. And I didn't get my first computer until 2002. I guess that counts me out.

Well, that doesn't stop you from lurking. I'll put people on their honour not to actually post unless they're in the correct age group.

[PrinceSharma]

I'm sorry to interupt but how may I join any group, say 'Linux Simpletons' ?

[devils casper]

I'm sorry to interupt but how may I join any group, say 'Linux Simpletons' ?

Open any group and click on Join Group link available above the Group Avatar.

[PrinceSharma]

Thanks Mod, you're a pal