Aurora does indeed use FDE (via LUKS). Firefox and other common applications are pre-installed (as Flatpaks) and get updated independently of the OS, without needing a reboot. There is an app store of sorts (called "Discover") which allows users to easily install/update apps - no sudo password needed - just like ChromeOS, minus the adware/spyware.
I got my folks to switch to Firefox decades ago (back in the IE 6 era), so they're comfortable with it and never had any issues with its password sync.
Wayland hasn't been a problem either. My folks don't use any fancy GPUs like nVidia (which seem to be the common cause of Linux display issues). And as I said, in case something does break, they can easily boot the previous to images right from the boot menu, no need to even press any secret keys or do a restore. My folks are also on the other side of the globe, so stability and support were my main considerations, and I liked the idea of being able to easily rollback to a previous update.
I agree with Gnome not being friendly, but don't include KDE with that - it uses the same, old-school desktop metaphor that old Windows versions used - which my folks were familiar with. Of course, this is a subjective thing, luckily my folks had no issues finding their way around. But it's not like they do any complicated computing stuff.
Yes the printer is a specific situation, but I mentioned it because I was surprised ChromeOS didn't detect it when Aurora had no issues. You'd think that ChromeOS, being based on Linux, would work fine as well... but clearly they're not alike.
I got my folks to switch to Firefox decades ago (back in the IE 6 era), so they're comfortable with it and never had any issues with its password sync.
Wayland hasn't been a problem either. My folks don't use any fancy GPUs like nVidia (which seem to be the common cause of Linux display issues). And as I said, in case something does break, they can easily boot the previous to images right from the boot menu, no need to even press any secret keys or do a restore. My folks are also on the other side of the globe, so stability and support were my main considerations, and I liked the idea of being able to easily rollback to a previous update.
I agree with Gnome not being friendly, but don't include KDE with that - it uses the same, old-school desktop metaphor that old Windows versions used - which my folks were familiar with. Of course, this is a subjective thing, luckily my folks had no issues finding their way around. But it's not like they do any complicated computing stuff.
Yes the printer is a specific situation, but I mentioned it because I was surprised ChromeOS didn't detect it when Aurora had no issues. You'd think that ChromeOS, being based on Linux, would work fine as well... but clearly they're not alike.