What happened?
So 2 days ago I was getting back on my family desktop, but I noticed that Windows was slow, like VERY slow. I hear the hardware making decently loud noises all the time
Ok, then it's a great opportunity to switch to Linux!
No! You see, it's a family desktop and it's been there for 10+ years, which means if I install another operating system, 10 years of familiarity will be vanished! Even if I choose a distro with a Windows-like UI, the apps supported there aren't garenteed to be recognized by my parents! Maybe they could tolerate Firefox and mayyyybe Ungoogled Chromium, but that's about it
Ok, did you asked your parents?
I told them I thought about it. My mom doesn't use it for personal stuff at all and my dsd uses it for YouTube, word, excel, etc, so nothing too crazy. OnlyOffice (and LibreOffice from what I heard of) does support Microsoft's file types. I asked them if they could toleratebthe alternative software. My dad said he would think about it. Currently, he said that we don't have a USB with big enough storage space to fit all the data in to backup and restore on the new OS. But my parents are surprisngly open when it comes to my personal discsions. So, hope isn't yet lost
Conclusion and solutions
It's a gray area for now. Idk if my parents could tolerate Linux Mint, but if they could, that's a massive win. If I could figure out how to dual-boot, then it's a possible middle ground. Another possible middle ground is running Windows within Virtual Box for my parents. Best case scenario: The open-source alternatives are good enough for my parents' use cases