In the USA with the economy as it is Open Source should push hard.

[cptrohn]

I mean honestly, with the way the economy is here right now, Open Source should be making a HUGE push for the benefits of free (as in speech and in beer) solutions right now.... I know I have been trying to every chance I can..... everywhere I can....

LOL as a matter of fact I was a local Super electronics store looking at new cases for a build I am planning and I overheard a woman talking with a sales clerk about wanting to downgrade from Vista to XP and I beleive they told her it would cost $150 or so for a new copy of windows XP and she was beside herself... well the clerk walks away and of course enter me:D..

"excuse me ma'am but I couldn't help but overhear..... but how about a FREE OS that can do whatever window$ can do (and much more) with a full office suite that wouldn't cost you a dime? One that is more stable, more secure, with awesome free support from a vibrant and knowledgable community.." By this time the salesman is back and clearly annoyed by my speech.. and he comes off with "Well it's limited as far as software goes, we don't SELL any linux software here at all!" So I got a nice chuckle out of that one and explained to her the difference between proprietery and open source software and where you get the software... and how the vast majority of it doesn't cost you dime..... I had her tfull attention then.... So we walk out of the store and head to my car where I had my laptop bag in the trunk and I gave her a few different live CD's to try out and wrote down the URL's of different forums where she can get help with the different distro's... Come to find out she has 3 young kids and her husband has been in Iraq for an extended period of time and money is extremely tight and that $150 dollars might have wiped her out for a while..

I think the economic climate here in the USA is a golden opportunity to get people to seriously consider open source.... Has anybody else gotten people to take a hard look at linux in this way? I've gotten about 4 different people taking good solid hard looks at linux in this way (and it's really what brought me to linux as well through a friend that used ubuntu that I worked with)

[monsterstack]

So you took an innocent woman to the trunk of your car and showed her your bits. A married woman with children, whose husband is away fighting for his country, to boot. You, sir, should be ashamed. Ashamed.

[cptrohn]

So you took an innocent woman to the trunk of your car and showed her your bits. A married woman with children, whose husband is away fighting for his country, to boot. You, sir, should be ashamed. Ashamed.

LOL I have no shame..........:popcorn:

[RATM_Owns]

I think open source should totally push for free beer.

[master_kernel]

Too bad most people haven't even heard of Linux. Or else this 'push' would be huge.

[Rainstride]

I mean honestly, with the way the economy is here right now, Open Source should be making a HUGE push for the benefits of free (as in speech and in beer) solutions right now.... I know I have been trying to every chance I can..... everywhere I can....

LOL as a matter of fact I was a local Super electronics store looking at new cases for a build I am planning and I overheard a woman talking with a sales clerk about wanting to downgrade from Vista to XP and I beleive they told her it would cost $150 or so for a new copy of windows XP and she was beside herself... well the clerk walks away and of course enter me:D..

"excuse me ma'am but I couldn't help but overhear..... but how about a FREE OS that can do whatever window$ can do (and much more) with a full office suite that wouldn't cost you a dime? One that is more stable, more secure, with awesome free support from a vibrant and knowledgable community.." By this time the salesman is back and clearly annoyed by my speech.. and he comes off with "Well it's limited as far as software goes, we don't SELL any linux software here at all!" So I got a nice chuckle out of that one and explained to her the difference between proprietery and open source software and where you get the software... and how the vast majority of it doesn't cost you dime..... I had her tfull attention then.... So we walk out of the store and head to my car where I had my laptop bag in the trunk and I gave her a few different live CD's to try out and wrote down the URL's of different forums where she can get help with the different distro's... Come to find out she has 3 young kids and her husband has been in Iraq for an extended period of time and money is extremely tight and that $150 dollars might have wiped her out for a while..

I think the economic climate here in the USA is a golden opportunity to get people to seriously consider open source.... Has anybody else gotten people to take a hard look at linux in this way? I've gotten about 4 different people taking good solid hard looks at linux in this way (and it's really what brought me to linux as well through a friend that used ubuntu that I worked with)

i usually wait till some one is having computer trouble, then find out if they play games and that kind of thing. if not then i suggest ubuntu, and tell them why it is good. if they don't care, i stop trying to sell them on it. they usually love the free part.

though the only people who didn't care, are the idiots who think there ability to use google means they know better than my 22 years worth of experience.


LOL I have no shame..........:popcorn:
good to hear, it will only slow you down anyway.

[oldsoundguy]

Where the big savings for all would be in governmental and municipal computers (save those tax dollars). But MS is spending millions in lobbying money to try and block any attempt at even LOOKING at open source.

What is needed is a counter to their lobbying efforts in the form of letters (not eMail .. they don't really READ those) to your various political representatives urging them to at least look into open source as an alternative for SOME of their computing needs.