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Sharkscott
March 14th, 2006, 06:32 PM
I am an Editor and writer for LXer.com. I posted an article about how I approach people when talking about OSS.

http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/56092/index.html

Tell me what you think. If you have stories of how you have approached people and gotten through to them, tell them to me.

christhemonkey
March 14th, 2006, 06:40 PM
wow! that would be amazing, if we all just fixed up one pc and gave it to someone without, then that would mean there would be *does quick mental arithmatic* lots more linux and computer users in general!

matthew
March 14th, 2006, 06:43 PM
Nice idea--fits well with "Humanity to others."

aysiu
March 14th, 2006, 06:52 PM
There's a global project called FreeCycle that hooks up people who have free stuff to give away with people who want free stuff:

http://www.freecycle.org/


The Freecycle Network™ is made up of many individual groups across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. If anyone wants to follow Sharkscott's advice, you can offer these "refurbished" computers on FreeCycle and try to hook them up with people in need or non-profit organizations.

LoclynGrey
March 14th, 2006, 07:10 PM
I love it, thats a good way to approach things :)

aarbear26
March 14th, 2006, 07:20 PM
I volunteer for a program called SCROUNGE here at Penn State's York campus. We install ubuntu on computers that are donated by businesses and we give them to charities and nonprofit companies. We have had the chance to give schools the computers as well. It is a great system and is so much better now that ubuntu has the oem install option. We have some people who illegally install win 98 after they get the computers, but for the most part, the kids are using them and ubuntu works just fine for their needs. We even had some send us thank you notes saying that their IT guy was able to install all kinds of childrens software for the kids.

So if we all keep it up, more people will know how nice it is to use and the joys of linux. I consider my greatest accomplishment of getting my wife off of her mac to use linux. She does still use her mac laptop some, but not as often.

Sharkscott
March 15th, 2006, 06:53 AM
Thanks to all of you for the kind words. If you have any examples of conversations you have had that "had a good outcome" if you know what I mean. :-) I would love to hear them.

Thank You for the links and cool info.

Feel free to post in the threads for the article if you like.

I would love to make this thread about "talking about" Linux with new people too. the more advice and information we share with each other the better we'll get at getting Linux out there.

Again, Thank You for your comments and I hope to talk to you all again, here.

sharkscott

treris
March 16th, 2006, 01:20 PM
I've gotta say it's a great idea, especially with windows vista coming up, with its veeerrrryyyy demanding system req's. A lot of individuals and businesses will be switching over to it (no matter how good linux is, there are still loads of people who are die-hard windows fans). This will probably mean that as soon as Vista comes out, there will be a surge in computer sales and therefore a surge of computers coming into the secondhand market which are still perfectly usable.

Now that I've heard of freecycle.org (thanks Aysiu!) I'm certainly gonna look around to see if anybody around me is getting a new computer and if I can have their old one.
Exit windows, in comes (k)ubuntu and they're good to go. It's never a bad thing to help somebody out.

tribaal
March 16th, 2006, 01:39 PM
Cheers man, I believe your post is brillant.

1. Your sales technique is worth gold for all of us, but especially to people like me who couldn't sell water to beduins. I'll try to learn some of theses techniques (I love the "how many antiviruses do you use" part ;) )

2. I also believe, like the rest of the people in this thread, that giving an old computer away to charity (or family) once linux has been installed on it is what every geek should do: I'm certainly not the only one with a space problem in some rooms at home, because of all the computers and spare parts I have piled up... So it helps you too, on top of helping others!

Thanks a lot, your contribution to the community is worth a lot, in my eyes.

- Trib'

TeeAhr1
March 16th, 2006, 06:08 PM
I'm actually doing that very thing with two computers this weekend! My brother has a desktop, my sister has a laptop, they're both...not garbage, but certainly not new. Infested with malware and ********, my mother calls me up asking me to fix them. Sez I: "We can do that, but I'm going to fix them my way, and I'm going to fix them permanently."

I look foreward to the challenge, really. Putting together systems that my siblings will be able to plug in and use with no Linux experience (and not very deep Windows experience, for that matter). It'll be a fun weekend!

poofyhairguy
March 17th, 2006, 09:55 AM
I have done this many times- given away computers of my own to friends who need them. I make them run Ubuntu as that is "my thing" and each time they have been greatful.

The problem comes when the person has great expectations of what a computer can do. Then its an uphill battle!

MethodOne
March 17th, 2006, 09:22 PM
I have an old Compaq Presario 1200 laptop. When I got it, it had several problems with Windows 98. So I got my Damn Small CD and installed it on the hard drive. I use it for Web browsing, streaming audio, and SSH sessions to my Ubuntu box. I'm glad the original owner included a PCMCIA network card because it didn't have one built-in.

When my grandma had problems with Windows XP on her old desktop with an 800 MHz Duron and 192MB RAM, I decided to put Ubuntu on it and it runs great!

Now my grandma is having power problems with her current desktop. She wants to get it fixed, but unfortunately it had a pirated copy of XP. I recommended her a few Linux distros, but she declined the offer because she depends on a Windows-only Bible study program, and she doesn't want to learn a new GUI. Her options are to get it fixed by her friend or buy a new one at a local store. If she buys a new one, I can try to fix her current one myself or use the individual parts.

aysiu
March 17th, 2006, 09:25 PM
Damn those Windows-only Bible studies...

Won't run in Wine, eh?

Arktis
March 17th, 2006, 09:28 PM
I think there are only two major ways to get more people on Linux, both of which are used by Microsoft:

1.) Have large vendors sell PC's with Linux pre-installed. Obviously. We all know this one, and it's the first thing covered in the article.

2.) Convince people that unless they are using Linux, they are missing out on something important. This is the main factor that keeps most people attatched to windows at the hip, and has not yet really been used as a marketing ploy for Linux.

MethodOne
March 18th, 2006, 12:20 AM
The problem is that her friend 100 miles from where she lives has the program CD. If I do have it, I would be able to test it in wine on my Ubuntu box.

Sharkscott
March 18th, 2006, 04:19 AM
MethodOne: I am in a somewhat similar situation with my Mom. The best thing to do is be patient. You cannot force someone to learn something new, they have to want too.

They either come around to the idea or when they buy a new computer you/I/we get a nice hand-me-down that we can turn into a good, reliable and useable computer again that gets a second lease on life. We can then send it to a happy new home where the person using it isn't dissapointed because "its not new" or "better than my old one". It is the people who have never had a computer, ever, that will truely value it, and use it as a tool to learn.

Someone who learns how to use a computer on Linux will never "see" a new computer with windows on it as an upgrade.

Example:

My friend in Colorado, who had no previous computer experience before I showed him Linux and gave him a computer before he moved, recently told me how he was over at a friends house who has a M$ machine. He figured that he would check his e-mail. He couldn't stand how much of a pain in the butt it was. For me though, the best part was that his friend does not have Firefox installed and he told me that he sat there for a minute and then asked his friend how he got on the Internet because "he didn't have a browser". My friend did not know that the blue E was a browser, he'd never seen it before.

Just hearing him say that made my day in a big way. \\:D/

Sharkscott