the end of XP meant a cash cost of around $7000 to move to Win7
Wow, I find it hard to believe any one would pay that much, for Mal-ware that does not work well, based on the current exchange rate : that is in mx pesos, 105,000.00 mx
And for something that does not work well,..???
I made a small donation, as much as I can afford to Debian, and I am sure a government organization like NASA, does make some large contributions, I don't use Debian, because I want a "free meal" I use it because of the quality, even if it was a commercial OS, and it cost some thing, I would buy it. But I would never even use Windows,none of the versions, even if they were free as in "free lunch", so any way, I am not convinced that NASA uses linux, just because it is "free", but of course the economic factor, is a important factor, combined with the cost of the OS, then the additional expenses due to down time, when the mal-ware fails, additional software needed to support it, keep it secure , etc. that does make windows, a non-solution, or not a option, even more so for a business, where a economics are crucial .
I know what you mean though, here, where I used to work, I was just a "stone cutter", crafts man, ...but also the computer, etc, is a hobby I am not any kind of "high tech" engineer, or pro,..Any way, to make a long story short,.. when my boss realized I enjoy doing things with computers, he bought me a small acer laptop, at that time it had been close to 5 years, that did not even have my own computer,..so anyway, the laptop came with windows XP, on it, I was happy, but as soon as I realized how useless the windows XP is, the same or even worse then the earlier versions, well, I got online, and downloaded "free dos", and "bye bye windows",..put the "freedos" completely overwriting the "mal ware", Then I also downloaded, a linux live CD, (knoppix), installed that as well, later , Xubuntu,...(this was 10 years ago), Any way, at the same time, it was costing the company , where I worked, 10 to 15000 pesos a month, or 120,000 pesos a year, to have a tech come and update the ant-viruses, etc,..everything he needed to keep the windows mal ware working, ... When I showed my boss about linux, and had my laptop connected to the modem,.. demonstrating it,... well, he liked it, but problem, there are not very many techs, in this area, that know anything about linux, But any way, I installed the new system, and now, it is very rare indeed that I am needed to do anything with that, it is a reliable , minimal maintenance system, not to long ago I updated it to newer versions, ...still Xubuntu,.. now I have been using Debian, 10 months now, and am confident, that he will be comfortable with it, if and when he wants to install a new system , that will be what I recommend,.. any way, to long of a story, and still a lot of "details" not included.... if a "non tech" type person like me, can install and maintain the OS, that is really a "user friendly" OS, ... the windows, junk,..I never could even come close to figuring out, I guess all that "high tech" stuff is above my head, ...I mean after all , I do sort of live, or used to live "under a rock",.(now retired, and live at home) ..that is all I did all day, cutting them up into smaller rocks, and making things with them, but that is another topic.
The point being, if a guy, that never went past the 5th grade, like me, can work with linux, then imagine how much easier it is for the "rocket scientists"