Promoting FOSS to People Who Don't Care 432
MarcoF brings us his take on how to cultivate interest in open-source software to casual users who aren't interested in or necessarily aware of its existence. Many people simply have trouble leaving their comfort zone of older proprietary software; what's the best way to get them to look at an open-source alternative?
"Since most people would rather die than write or study software source code, it is actually counterproductive to promote software 'because you can modify it yourself and be part of its community'. Look for really practical advantages which can be enjoyed every day by the person you want to convince. Start from the actual deep passions, beliefs, interests and practical needs of the people in front of you and go backwards from there, delaying the apparition of terms like 'source code', 'the four software freedoms', GPL, Gnu, Linux, etc."
Easy, no Licenses/activation key (Score:5, Insightful)
"Uh, just download it again, it'll probably take 10 minutes or less on a good internet connection"
"You can put it on as many computers as you like, for free, have fun."
Re:Easy, no Licenses/activation key (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Easy, no Licenses/activation key (Score:5, Funny)
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Maybe there are some people you shouldn't try to switch to FOSS. : p
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Once people learn that copying software costs nothing, then obtaining software for nothing seems to be the natural cost, and anything higher is a blatant rip off.
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Re:Easy, no Licenses/activation key (Score:5, Insightful)
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Yeah, and Google Docs is a service. So you would pay for Google Docs but not OpenOffice?
Re:Easy, no Licenses/activation key (Score:5, Insightful)
Also, I keep portable versions of several programs on my flash drive, so if there's a computer handy I can show the program in question without even having to install it on their computer.
Re:Easy, no Licenses/activation key (Score:5, Insightful)
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There are a lot of people who are addicted to buying things that are cheap to produce and yet have 90% of their costs in advertising. These people buy bottled water, Macs, expensive cosmetics, spa treatments, celebrity diets, Bose sound systems etc. and would never, ev
Re:Easy, no Licenses/activation key (Score:4, Interesting)
I usually describe OSS programmers as volunteers.
Most people get the concept of volunteering.
At least it gets them away from the image of "giving it away 'cause it isn't good enough to sell"
Offer to buy them a drink. (Score:5, Insightful)
I was in the same group of software mavens, the FOSS crowd, and ran into the same issues everywhere from home users to big businesses. That is I did not understand why it was hard to convince people otherwise with my beliefs on open source. Then I started taking business classes and I got into a few meetings between the managers about large software purchases and I finally began to understand the whole picture. The problem is, we geeks do not understand people adn their internal perception of risk. As I scroll through the comments here I see some stuff that I can already see not working and some stuff working (but the author does not understand why it works).
The reason why people are so ready to throw money at a problem (and a lot of money in some cases) is by throwing money at the problem you are at least assured that you have entered into some sort of contract where whatever solution you get will come with some sort of support service. They don't care that you have the solution. For all they know, you could just be trying to con them out of their money or trying to waste their time. Instead, they want assurance that your solution will work as advertised after the transaction has been made. In otherwwords, they want assurance that the perceived risk they have in there minds can be mitigated by the money they give. And they will never state that either because they are acting based on experience and emotion. People don't hand over money knowing full well that it is really just there to eliminate the risk. They will say that they agree that they are handing over the money because it makes them sleep better a night or they feel like it (what they get in return) will probably turn out as expected.
So when you, a FOSS geek, comes along and says, "hey, this free stuff works better than what you paid for" they are not going to believe you and will turn down the offer. That is not because they don't trust you, that is because they are not offered any assurance should you happen to be wrong this one time. And if you happen to be wrong, now they just lost an hour or so of their life (time is just as important as money).
How can you convince them otherwise? Easy, mitigate the perceived risk in their minds. They want assurance, the safety in knowing that even the 5 or 10 minutes you're taking from their life is going to be worth it.
So one particularly easy way to do that is to make them a deal: if they try the FOSS software for a day, and they find it does everything they need then they will buy you a drink, but if at the end of the day they think it does not work as you claimed then you'll buy them a drink. Besides getting you an easy free drink, this offers them the assurance that their time is not wasted: if the software works (there was no risk), then they save money (minus the drink), but if the software does not work, they get a drink for the invested time/effort. Without the drink it is a win-lose situation (if they win they win free software, if they lose they lose time and effort) and suddenly their perceived risks in losing take over. By introducing the drink you take their mind off of focusing on the risk involved and offer them some assurance that the risk they think is there is actually not there.
Others here have claimed selling the software by advertising features and "bling" that they have not seen before. While this works, the problem is now you have people spinning cubes and not exploring other things that the software is capable of. Instead you've sold them a "shiny object" and they'll use it just like a "shiny object." That's not what you want, you want them to use it as a replacement and you want them to gain confidence to eliminate the perceived risk they associated with FOSS.
Finally I want to be clear that offering a drink will not always work because people are different. Some people are more conservative than others and some people will take quite a bit more social effort to get moving along. But I assure you, the problem always revolves around ri
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Sorry, it had to be said (probably "again"), or:
"Do you do better work when you're sat in the office being told to do it or when you you're doing a hobby you enjoy? It's made by people who enjoy it, so they don't feel they need to charge for it."
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Then maybe throw in a tiny professional support contract so they don't feel ripped off when/if they find out it's free.
Or, another cover story: tell him it "costs" $50, but there's a "special site I know about" (i.e. main download
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Re:Obvious counterexample they'll understand (Score:4, Insightful)
Search isn't Google's product, you are. They sell your eyes to advertisers. Search is just the honey pot to get you there.
Why are people so blatantly naive?
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Some people may argue that because it's free it's not worth anything, but a lot of people also don't like the idea of paying for intangible goods. If you can't hold it in your hand, then it has no physical value. Once you point out that all software is like that people tend to be a lot happier with it.
And they can purchase a physical cd or physical manual if they want, but then as you pointed out above it's just one more thing to lose.
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You get it from a reputable place, say the Ubuntu website.
A couple of friends have then gone and purchased Ubuntu from Amazon...... ARRRHHHH!
Updates are automatic. Then trying to explain a package manager, and how just about everything is checked out before it's put in there... their eyes start glaze over. I just say there is a thing like what's
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Repos are easier for YOU, not the average person. Give the average person a CD in hand, that is popped into the computer and installed with a few clicks. That's easy for them because they can follow the sequence of steps using physical pieces.
Repos on the
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Software repositories are completely different from what Windows has.
Its a side effect of everything being free.
Most people dont understand it just because its different.
Once they have used it then it dawns on them how logical it is.
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More choice and freedom isn't always better either, they don't want to make choices because that takes consideration of the options and a decision-making process. For consumers, it's better to go straight to getting what they want
The whole concept of "consumers" is antithetical to what Free Software is. It's Free Software. It's about choice and freedom. It's not about being #1, or having the most users. Choice and freedom
Re:Easy, no Licenses/activation key (Score:5, Interesting)
My best effort is say "To add applications there is a little 'add applications' menu, which has a list of all the applications available with a summary of what they do. You just select which ones you want and click install, and it gets it from a trusted place on the internet and installs it for you."
As for your statement about 'the average user doesn't want to learn about repo's', I agree. But, they DO want to learn where they get applications, manage updates, and where these come from. If there is a way to explain this without describing repositories then tell me about it.
Re:Easy, no Licenses/activation key (Score:4, Informative)
Not just free but legal (Score:2)
Granted, this may not be completely true for transitional countries like the United States, where the ecosystem still supports packs of hungry lawyers prowling th
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My solution (Score:5, Funny)
Re:My solution (Score:5, Insightful)
We actually had a discussion here at FUDCon about this very issue yesterday, and one of the real problems most people encountered wasn't generated interest as much as it was keeping people interested when they encounter little bugs or usability issues (there are quite a few in the Fedora utils which will be resolved this year). Unfortunately, polishing off apps to make them more usable (or even just having them update the UI during a complex operation) is not a high salience issue, and so such things often get neglected in open source projects, even though they can be a deciding factor in keeping non-programmers interested.
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And this is the reason why Linux on the desktop is actually a lame duck operating system. Linux on the server is a different issue, but on the desktop what actually costs money and time is finishing the appl
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Then one day I simply went to shut off my music before going out with friends, and when I clicked the Amarok icon in my taskbar, the cube flipped to another desktop. Everyone in the room urged me to do it again.
Funny thing? First t
concentrate on the F, forget the OSS (Score:3, Insightful)
That way of they don't like it, they've lost nothing. They can always go ahaed and buy some stuff.
As the article says, this is about people who don't care. All they want is to get stuff done. They're not interested in discussing your personal philosophy so just give them what they want - without the sermon.
[1] yes, yes, I know free beer or speech. Don't forget we're still talking about people who don't care
Thet fact that it's free ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Thet fact that it's free ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Thet fact that it's free ... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Don't speak too soon.. There is Linux Genuine Advantage:
http://www.linuxgenuineadvantage.org/ [linuxgenui...antage.org]
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"The business model is centered around charging businesses to get help from a Red Hat employee with setting up or troubleshooting their software, so it is in Red Hat's best interests to give the software out for free. Of course, for people like us, that just means getting free, legal software to use."
People are very open to that idea, b
Lead by Example (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't evangalise, not anymore. But if you come to me with a question or a problem, you get to hear my opinion and very often that is "sorry, that sounds like it's a windos/IE/MS-Office/whatever-specific problem. I don't do windos/IE/MS-Office/etc anymore, can't help you with that. I can only recommend you check out Apple/Firefox/OpenOffice/etc as an alternative, it works for me and doesn't have that problem."
Re:Lead by Example (Score:5, Funny)
Lead by example? That's my way of (politely) not giving free technical support to moochers.
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Bingo! (Score:3, Interesting)
When that happens, I load it up with Open Office, etc... and explain the new and free stuff. I also explain why their computer got all hosed up, and that lots of shovelware, freeware, etc... can cause them lots of problems. OSS is reliable, free and useful.
From there, they get to make their own choices, knowing they are largely on their own. (I'm not likely to rebuild again, i
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Three simple words (Score:2, Insightful)
The biggest advantage of Free Software is freedom from vendor lock in. Ever found a bug in a program and been told 'yes, we fixed that. Pay $100 for the new version if you want the fix?' Ever wanted to run the software on another machine and discovered you have to pay extra for another license? Ever wanted to send a file to someone else, found they don't have the software to open it, and wanted to send them a copy?
Re:Three simple words (Score:4, Insightful)
Ask Walmart (Score:4, Insightful)
Answer those two questions and you will know if there is any point trying to convert people who don't care. There's no point trying to convert them if they aren't going to like the experience anyway.
Evangelist in the Office (Score:2)
I have a co-worker who absolutely loves open source software and uses every opportunity to lobby for its adoption in the office. Anytime Microsoft is mentioned or some MS software is causing him problems, he gets extremely upset and says that it's a perfect example of why we should switch our workstations to Linux.
He always loves to talk with me about how he used to do a lot of "scripting" back in the day and that I need to train him to administer our server someday so he can "know everything that's going
Re:Evangelist in the Office (Score:5, Insightful)
I tell people it's a sovereignty issue (Score:3, Insightful)
It's about who owns their computer, them or the people who write the software. I point out numerous instances where various bits of proprietary software cause their computer to act in the developers best interests and against their own. DRM is one such, but there are others. I talk about how having the source code available allows 3rd parties to check up on the code and hold the original programmers accountable.
This is a complex argument, and hard for some people to grasp. But when people do it's pretty effective. Some people still don't care, but it's a much smaller percentage than the ones who think they don't care whether or not they have the source.
I think, maybe, I could refine it by linking it to voting machine issues and more people might get it then.
I also talk a bit about how they can give any software they have to friends for free and that it's perfectly legal and everything, and really that's how it should be. But that's a minor part of my little presentation.
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Start simple, don't preach (Score:5, Insightful)
- When people are having problems with IE, I promote Firefox.
- When people are buying a new computer, I encourage them to try OpenOffice before buying MS Office. I've had several people try it and stick with it.
- When people complain about the loud ads in AIM, or having to run 4 different programs for AIM, Google Talk, MSN and Yahoo, I promote Pidgin.
- When someone wants to do some photo editing, but can't afford to shell out the cash for Photoshop, I suggest they try the Gimp. Nobody seems to like it, but they get their work done.
- When somebody can't get a media file to run, I suggest they try out VLC.
I have portable versions of all of the above (and then some) on my flash drive, so I can show people what I'm talking about if there's a computer nearby.
Once somebody is using most of the above software on Windows, I might suggest they try Linux if they voice a complaint about Windows (viruses, activation issues, slow boot time, bogged down system, etc.). I've gotten two people to try it out, one stuck with it, the other got a Mac.
There may be better promoters than my self, but I've found that if you're trying to push software (Free or not) on people who don't want it, they'll resist and you'll end up looking like an ass.
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Re:Start simple, don't preach (Score:5, Insightful)
I have found FOSS to be less of a time commitment in many ways, as I can install it all with a click of the mouse. No cds, serial numbers, allowing the software to phone home, updating programs one by one, etc, etc.
Re: Value of Time to promote FOSS (Score:2)
Elsewhere, we determined that certain OldSchool types would say "Gee, the software is 'Free', so I'm confused".
The answer is, "That's right. The professional companies make the living with customized personal support."
Having thought about this for a few minutes, our User comes up with "So, what are *you* going to charge me?"
"Nothing. My time today is a gift so you can get started like a demo. If you want me to manage your company's switchover, we can talk about a contract."
In Business Ter
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In Business Terms: The accounting term is called "goodwill". That's what the single user-demos are building.
sigh I hate to nit-pick these things, but "goodwill" in an accounting context means something completely different. Specifically, when one company acquires another, they pay an amount of cash, often (usually) well above the value of the other company's assets. To balance this difference, the purchasing company is said to have acquired a fictitious asset called "goodwill" that accounts for the difference in value between the company's assets and the paid value of the acquired company. So if you pay $10,00
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Good point. It's no good trying to push an alternate solution on people who are happy with their current system. Wait for it.
At some point, someone will get an ODF file. At that point, you can say, "Oh, you don't have OpenOffice? It can read ODT and DOC files." When they ask how much it costs, hit them with the news that it's free. You're more likely to get a convert than if you go to a happy Word user and try to explain that they should switch for ideological reasons.
Being eager to convert people m
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That's the wrong comparison anyway. GIMP is closer to Photoshop Elements in many ways. A current version of PSE is about $50 to $100 depending on where you buy it, and older versions are usually fine for most people too. There's one that is one version old included with the $100 Wacom tablet.
Then enlighten me (Score:2)
To win the common man, you need to provide the advantages that a company currently offers. You need a nicely boxed product that has a support number. Y
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That's not an argument for or against open source at this point. I could say just as legitimately that "Windows is getting there, but the moment something goes wrong you are HOSED if you don't know how to mess about in Regedit." Your ordinary user is hosed no matter what OS he is running, because he'll have no idea how to fix it. What's more important is how often something gets
Don't. (Score:2)
NSS! (Score:2)
Solving their problems (Score:2)
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Similarly, people pay out the nose for ms office just so they can type of an assignment for class, or write a letter to print out. I have no problem educating them about free alternatives that not only cost nothing, but can be transfered from machine to machine and share
Here, try this DVD (Score:5, Interesting)
No evangelism, no preaching. Don't go on about the source code availability, 'giving back' to the community, just let the apps stand on their own. Their eyes will glaze over if you try too hard, because they don't really care. Yet.
They won't understand the underlying FOSS concepts, until they play with it for a while.
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Likewise, when trying to get "normal" users to in
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If it's not too much trouble, could you post a link to your set of freeware? The videoediting one might be new for me. I agree with what you said, but you could show as well as tell.
Conservative Arguments for FOSS (Score:4, Interesting)
a) Open Source is not communism and its not socialism. Socialism and communism are centrally planned, whereas, an open source system consists of thousands of voices, each operating with their own agenda. If any system is more like a communist system, its a big corporate system, which has all of its components centrally planned and designed. It's not like Linus Torvalds writes all of Linux. He's just famous for writing a very important piece at the center of things. While its true that you are not going to make billions of dollars writing that one thing and selling it over and over again, there's nothing to stop you from building a consulting firm offering open source solutions that makes billions and billions of dollars, if you want.
b) Rugged individualism. Open source is software about the inventor, without all of that unproductive fluff of corporate programming. You make something yourself, and then you publish it. If its good, people will use it. If not, then the project quickly dies.
c) Honesty. Open source systems are brutally honest. Whereas a system in a store will be filled with hype and lies, by contrast, an open source system tells it like it is. One of the things that I love about Linux is that the documentation with most of the software package clearly and immediately lists things that don't work or haven't been tested enough.
d) No spying. These days, using a copy of Windows makes it almost seem like you might be a criminal just for using it. And Windows is completely sealed up, and who knows what sort of deals that Microsoft cuts with the government. Because there's no secret codes in open source systems, everyone would know right away if something was wrong with it.
e) A real community. Every program these days has its communities, but with open source, you have a genuine interaction between the people that write and the people that use the software. Working in an open source community is like working in an old rural town, where everyone chips in to build that neighbor's house. Open source lets all of its dirty laundry out.
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"...conservative neo-nazi fascist trying to take over the world Republicans... Open Source is not communism and its not socialism... If any system is more like a communist system, its a big corporate system, which has all of its components centrally planned and designed."
The problem is, neo-nazi fascists are *not* troubled by communism because it's centrally planned and designed. They're *solely* troubled because its non-corporate (upwardly profit motivate
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First of all I don't think you realize how few people even know what the term "open source" means, which I think is one of the points of the article. Secondly, yes, we are all fully aware about you conservative types, because you're a very loud minority who has spent the past few years on slashdot and other IT sites trying to convince everyone that true geeks are conservative. Look at what that fruitcake ESR did to the Jargon File, for example.
So, I take it that "true geeks" don't place much value in th
Free / No Hassle Argument Not Always Enough (Score:2, Interesting)
During the presentation, I was discussing the motivations to use open source over proprietary software. I explained that one of the largest drivers was that it was free (as in liberty), and often free (as in beer). Very few of the students were programmers
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Playing devils advocate... (Score:2)
Firefox is not really free its disguised in the price of a computer...
Seriously think hard about this. If I buy a computer preloaded with Windows IE is free. Sure somewhere there is an included cost of Windows, but I don't see that price.
If I buy a computer with Linux preloaded on it then disguised in the price of the computer is some person who went through the configuration of the computer and installed everything properly
How I coverted my office (Score:3, Interesting)
Then I installed OpenOffice on my machine. She walked by, and went "you didn't install Office without a key did you, because that's against the rules." I then proceeded to show her OO, how it works, what it was. Then came the big sale, "..and best of all, it's free."
Our office is MS Office free now, altho one holdout refuses to go OO, so eventually I installed the beta of IBM Lotus Symphony and all is good.
However, the community is part of the problem... (Score:4, Insightful)
Lots of these people just want to use their computer. Paying some company $50 is no big deal if they can call them up and complain about a bug or mis-guided feature. Heck, they don't mind paying the $150 for Office because they know it is a well-supported community, and just about everybody can help them. (OpenOffice is making great strides in this area too).
Sue Them (Score:2)
If as many people got sued for using pirated software as got sued by the RIAA/MPAA etc. for alleged copyright infringement of music and video, Open Source and Free Software would become very popular over night.
Big software companies will never do this since they know that the grass roots user base, who often "borrows" software from work and friends are vital to keeping interest in their products.
How many home users have ever been sued for having a non-legitimate copy of Windows, Office or Photoshop?
Cost (Score:2)
What I tell my friends (Score:2)
I tell my friends that I get special disks from the manufacturer that don't require activation. That it's normally very expensive software but, as a promotional deal, they can install and use it on as many machines as they want and not get in trouble.
For some reason when people think they're getting some kind of special deal, FOSS gets a better reception.
The other promotion for FOSS that works is using Knoppix to rescue a Windows box with a virus. It's like magic to them.
I'm not worried about F/OSS
easy solution (Score:2)
broader focus on freedom (Score:2)
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Awareness (Score:2)
Lots of reasons: (Score:2)
Instead, I focus on avoiding lock-in, where lock-in is if you pick a vendor, and they go south, (or you do), you're shit out of luck; Whichever vendor your chose is going to make it as difficult as possible for you to ever use another vendor, but if the
Let MS do it for us (Score:2)
In the past 12 months, I have had many occasions when freinds or family have been unable to open Word files (possibly because they are old, we dont know) or edit tables with newer versions of Word, and the answer is OpenOffice! Files open, and tables edit. MS products ar
The best incentive to move to FOSS alternatives... (Score:2)
Currently these exist for Office, web browsers, IRC clients, and a wealth of programming language, server functionality, networking tools, etc.
Where FOSS fails and fails hard is in the creative space - and I don't mean grammar checking or forty different ways to parse text. I mean, ultimately, FOSS alternatives for applications like the Macrodobe MX and CS suites, the Final Cut Studio suite, 3d Studio MAX, etc. The areas where the major ISVs are still raki
The problems you face (Score:2)
The zealot never considers the possibility the proprietary alternative may simply be best-of-breed. He inflates the cost by quoting retail list for the most expensive version on the market.
If your employer has a volume licensing agreement with Microsoft, you may be able to get a full version of Office for the price of S&H. Home Use Program [microsoft.com]
MS Office Home 2007, with a three seat license, sells retail boxed for around $125.
People don't trust "Free" (Score:3, Interesting)
But when I tell people the software is free as in "you don't have to pay any money, you can copy to as many computers as you want, you can pass it along," they tend to look at me sideways. They are deeply suspicious. They just don't believe it. Generally, they voice two objections. The first is "If it's free, it must be crap." The second is "What's the catch? It can't *really* be free."
At that point, it's easy to reel them in. I just appeal to their natural skepticism, make them think their view of the world is especially insightful, and feed their greed. Here's how: "No, actually, it's not crap; it's better than the stuff they charge money for. Ya see, the people who write this free software give it away to everyone so that people will use it. Every once in a while, the head of I.T. in some big company tries it, likes it, and installs it in the company. Then the company will need some customization or training or other support so they'll call the people that wrote it and give them money to help out. The software writers make big money providing support, the companies save a lot of money because free software plus paid support is still cheaper than paying the ungodly cost of MS Office for every employee, and as this sort of minor, unintended side effect, regular folks like us get to acquire and use really high quality software for no money at all. Ain't that cool?"
The light bulb clicks on over their head. Their eyes furtively dart from side to side. Suddenly, they act like they just found a Rembrandt accidentally thrown out in the trash. They join me in the conspiracy to rip off the man (or so they think) and gladly take the CD that I'm offering.
No, it's not 100% accurate and it does tastelessly appeal to the base instincts of the mark. It's even comparable to an end-user marketing strategy commonly used to push crack. But it gets people to use (most often) a free AV product or (occasionally) OpenOffice, AbiWord, Firefox, et. al. They can learn more deeply later; I just want them to start using the stuff in the here and now. I want them to get used to the notion of not paying for software. This approach has had the most success for me.
Article not msft friendly = more flambait posts? (Score:2)
Re:Article not msft friendly = more flambait posts (Score:3, Interesting)
Free = zero cost (Score:3, Interesting)
They have been doing this for years, since before the "Internet", although it has really taken off with the advent of warez web sites, P2P downloading and other stuff.
You are never going to convince someone that "vendor lock-in" is bad when they consider they are shafting the vendor just as much as the vendor is shafting them. Excessive costs? What cost? They are getting this stuff for free.
Does everyone do this? No, but it is a sizable group. Certainly enough to make a dent in overall statistics of revenue and use. The folks "in the know" about this consider the people paying to be losers and dummies, so you need a "guide" to get in with the right crowd. Information like this isn't free, especially for the people that are just graduating from AOL U.
Arguing about "free" software is pointless to these people. They aren't going to listen because to them all software is "free". There are no "vendors", there is no "support" and there are no costs.
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Once you have people using all the apps you mentioned, they basically won't even notice the difference with switching to Linux and KDE. You'll still have one major problem with getting them to actually try Linux, however - They already have a legal OEM copy of XP (or Vista).
You or I or the typi
New versions of proprietary software. (Score:2)
Now, well, the "expansion areas" that software companies are looking involve turf wars with other "content companies", so any features they add are basically worthless (woop-dee-do, a home theater system that will someti
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Isn't is possible to add in a layer orso that blocks all those IP addresses that are used for this crap?
Anonymous Cowardness is good and all to be able to talk about a company acting (illegal|immoral), but isn't it possible to just add a spamfilter of some kind?
Talk to Google or something, see if you can make a deal and have a spamfilter inserted somewhere in your rackspace.
For the meanwhile, I've just set my browse level to +1, for the first time since I
Re: (Score:3, Funny)