Convincing friends to use Linux or Ubuntu?

[8jwong14]

How can I convince my friends to use Ubuntu? Basically, what reasons should I discuss with them to convince them and give them real reasons to move to Uubntu?

[KiwiNZ]

Demonstrate features and benefits... Do not preach

[8jwong14]

Demonstrate features and benefits... Do not preach
What exactly do you mean by don't preaching? Do you mean that I should go arround holding The Book, and say "Have you heard the good word of Ubuntu?". So I should actually show them the stuff instead of jsut telling them about it preaching of the virtues of open source then?

[whiskeylover]

I usually avoid convincing friends to use Linux. In most cases it causes people to think of you as weirdo super nerd.

Usually when someone sees me using Ubuntu (and the fancy effects,) they ask me "Is that Windows 9000?" I take the opportunity to tell them its Linux, and quickly show them a couple of flashy features, and leave it at that. They usually ooh-aah and forget about it, but in a few cases I end up giving them a bootable USB drive to try it out.

[sammiev]

Show your friends what you have. They will ask for more if they desire. :)

[Khakilang]

I have converted a couple of my friends to use Linux by demonstrating to them how user friendly Linux is and also they are frustrated with Window virus and malware. But if your friend is a gamer than I doubt that you can convince them since most of the game is made for Window and some of them may not work on Wine.

[ice60]

i wouldn't bother. most people don't care much for computers and aren't interested. plus, if they know you like computers, no matter what you say, they are unable to believe it's easy to use.

i don't talk to anyone about linux, i just fix windows for them a few times a month - they sit there amazed at my skillz even when they've watched me google the problem and follow steps from a page lol

[madjr]

I usually avoid convincing friends to use Linux. In most cases it causes people to think of you as weirdo super nerd.

Usually when someone sees me using Ubuntu (and the fancy effects,) they ask me "Is that Windows 9000?" I take the opportunity to tell them its Linux, and quickly show them a couple of flashy features, and leave it at that. They usually ooh-aah and forget about it, but in a few cases I end up giving them a bootable USB drive to try it out.

yes, that's usually what i do, i wait for them to come to me and ask.

also if they have some virus problem i tell them they can use what i have and forget about viruses. Of course i warn them is a bit different, but i will be there to hold their hands till they are comfortable.

the problem with ubuntu is that it doesnt offer any kind of visible help right on the desktop to ease the learning curve

is why ubuntu needs to come with a good tutorial urgently and/or ask for them to fix this bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+bug/778289

[KiwiNZ]

If asked I will demonstrate the features and benefits of Linux/Open Source. I will let them have a 'play' with one of my test machines.

If they are genuinely interested I will give them ubuntu or Fedora on a DVD or USB Key drive.

[madjr]

i wouldn't bother. most people don't care much for computers and aren't interested. plus, if they know you like computers, no matter what you say, they are unable to believe it's easy to use.

i don't talk to anyone about linux, i just fix windows for them a few times a month - they sit there amazed at my skillz even when they've watched me google the problem and follow steps from a page lol

I stopped fixing windows computers. I will do it only once and just install ubuntu on their computers and tell them that if windows fails again they can log into ubuntu and keep using it.

People usually feel safer to know that is there. And most of them after a few times will find it just as simple.

do they pay you to fix theirs or you just do it for free?

if you do it for free then imo is a bad habit, because they just act "amazed" and cheer you up so you can do the work for them (same way was with me...). And they dont care how many times they mess it up because they have you to do everything free. That's exactly why i stopped being dumb and fixing windows for free. And when i install ubuntu is very hard that they will mess it up.

[drawkcab]

I only really push for it in cases where the hardware is older an incapable of running vista or win7 and/or they've trashed their windows install and have no recovery/installation media available--i.e. when repairing or reinstalling and securing windows is not an option.

Usually I'll install it for them or help them install it to get them started. The first couple of weeks are often rough but then they take to it. Almost everyone I've helped becomes a convert.

On top of that, I wear my ubuntu sweatshirt when I teach. ;)

[ice60]

I stopped fixing windows computers. I will do it only once and just install ubuntu on their computers and tell them that if windows fails again they can log into ubuntu and keep using it.

People usually feel safer to know that is there. And most of them after a few times will find it just as simple.

do they pay you to fix theirs or you just do it for free?

if you do it for free then imo is a bad habit, because they just act "amazed" and cheer you up so you can do the work for them (same way was with me...). And they dont care how many times they mess it up because they have you to do everything free. That's exactly why i stopped being dumb and fixing windows for free. And when i install ubuntu is very hard that they will mess it up.
i only do it for the people i'm very close to - family and friends who go out their way to help me. if i'm honest i'm lucky to have them because they all put up with my anti-social habits and still all want to see me!

they have all helped me out with money too so it would be a bit difficult to charge them :D they couldn't give two hoots about linux either.

[HermanAB]

I gave up trying to change family and friends over to Linux. I rather fix their Windows machine for them ONCE and then I give them a brand new little Linux netbook a few weeks later, configured with Firefox and Skype and not much else. OK, granted, not everyone can afford to give little netbooks away, but you can also get a machine at a recycling centre for almost nothing.

People are happy with that, since they still have their old machine and they gradually get attuned to the convenience and ruggedness of the little netbook and because it is a tiny little machine, they don't expect it to work exactly like their PC and so all ends up well.

[haqking]

Show them your spinning 3d cube desktop, let them drool then say "you cant have it, when the time is right, linux will find you !" ;-)

[halovivek]

I told my friends the advantage of Ubuntu Over W*dows.
Now he is using Ubuntu and said he is doing fine.
Before that he tried various Linux Os. like Red hat.
He said ubuntu is good.

[Linuxratty]

Show your friends what you have. They will ask for more if they desire. :)

This is true...No one likes to be pestered to change an os. . If they like what they see,they will say so,if not,that's the way the cookie crumbles.

[BrokenKingpin]

Let them use whatever they want. If you get them to switch, every little problem they run into will be your problem to resolve. A number of friends of mine have switched to Linux just from me mentioning it here and there. When they switch on their own they may ask for help, but you won't feel obligated to fix every issue they hit.

[fontis]

How can I convince my friends to use Ubuntu? Basically, what reasons should I discuss with them to convince them and give them real reasons to move to Uubntu?

Show them Unity, then show them Windows 8 and tell them the mainstream OS's are going to hell :D

[Copper Bezel]

I have a younger brother who needed his first PC for school, and I got him one running Ubuntu. I can't say I've ever tried to "convert" anyone. It's really just irritating for everyone involved. Maybe when I first switched, in a "hey, have you seen this" sort of way.

I have one friend who I taunt incessantly due to her begrudging envy of, because we're weird, the Unix copy/paste.

[BeRoot ReBoot]

I don't try to convince people to like what I like. I'll point out it's there, but I'll let them judge the utility of making the switch.

[cap10Ibraim]

Show them your spinning 3d cube desktop, let them drool then say "you cant have it, when the time is right, linux will find you !" ;-)

when I know that my laptop will make a public appearance , I install compiz advanced configuration ):P
(still on my rock solid 10.04)

[Dyzphagia]

Well considering most of my friends have pcs that are a bit slow, I offered them a way to improve performance without parts. Now one is running Ubuntu 11.04 with Gnome2. The other is running Debian with LXDE. Though the Debian friend didn't really get too much of a choice, Debian was the first thing that ran on his pc without hitch and since then, he's too used to it to want a different one. This was a while ago before I knew about Puppy/Peppermint/Crunchbang. But I did teach him to use to aptitude and all that, so he's good on that part.

[rg4w]

Show your friends what you have. They will ask for more if they desire. :)
^ this

Accomplish great things, and your friends will want to know how you did it.

Operating systems are very personal things, chosen for a wide range of reasons. Enjoy your own choice, and let others enjoy theirs.

[Basher101]

now that you mention choice...if i go out to a computer shop and buy a computer, it is 99,9% certain that it will have windows preinstalled. People do not even have a choice in such a situation..
Sure they can buy one with linux somewhere else, but it will be too much of a trouble for them or not affordable.

[madjr]

i only do it for the people i'm very close to - family and friends who go out their way to help me. if i'm honest i'm lucky to have them because they all put up with my anti-social habits and still all want to see me!

they have all helped me out with money too so it would be a bit difficult to charge them :D they couldn't give two hoots about linux either.

ok, i see.

not saying you should do like i did if you dont want to, but people do give 10 hoots when its installed on their machines, in fact they will give "hoots" to "whatever" gets installed on their computers. Windows is not better than linux for lots of users, is just the one installed...

Oh and i believe you should think better of yourself (anti-social, shy or whatever) and not by the amount of people that come and visit (yes, friend are important, but not to that extent)... you're a very bright individual (probably above average.). Dont worry, you will find your way.

[Basher101]

I convinced a friend of mine that lives 3000km away of ubuntu just about mentioning all the features, free open source software, no viruses and no suggish registry. She has no time to install it tho, as i will do the installation for her through Team Viewer once she finds the time. She only uses the computer for surfing the web and writing a few documents so the gaming issue is nothing to think of ;)

[Paulgirardin]

I noticed a friends Win7 netbook's display was at a strange resolution setting.She explained that she had to do that to see the small text but it made access to buttons on various windows difficult.
I found the magnifier app in win7 for her but that was crap to use,so I showed her Ubuntu with desktop zoom enabled and she thought that would work well for her.
So I set up a dual boot and,because I was running out of time that day,gave her a brief run down on Ubuntu and told her to call me if she ran into problems.
Several weeks later I hadn't heard from her,so I had assumed she was still using win7.In reality she was using Ubuntu exclusively,hadn't booted windows since I was there last and only had a couple of minor questions to ask me about Ubuntu that she didn't feel the need to call me about.
This person is a non tech savvy woman in her sixties.She also told me how her daughter-in-law was telling her of her brother's expertise as an I.T. tech and that he even knows Linux!!!.My friend replies "oh,I use Linux too".She ended up having to show the daughter-in-law (also in I.T.)her netbook to prove she was using Ubuntu.

[beew]

Show them your spinning 3d cube desktop, let them drool then say "you cant have it, when the time is right, linux will find you !" ;-)

The spinning 3d cube apparently hasn't been looking as good in Unity, unfortunately. Somehow doesn't look as natural as the Unity bar and the top "panel" aren't attached to the cube when it rotates. :)

[haqking]

The spinning 3d cube apparently hasn't been looking as good in Unity, unfortunately. Somehow doesn't look as natural as the Unity bar and the top "panel" aren't attached to the cube when it rotates. :)

Whats unity ? ;-)

[wolfen69]

I offer Ubuntu in a dual boot for my customers, but I don't try and convert many people if I'm not getting paid.

[XubuRoxMySox]

People who are satisfied with what they have don't have any reason to switch.

People who see Linux geeks always tweaking and fine-tuning their computers generally don't understand that they're doing it just because they can. They assume you're "fixing" it because it's broken!

All I do is have a fast, ultralight Linux mixture with Xfce on a "community computer" that other kids at the dance studio can use between their classes. It's so easy they all use it effortlessly without any "coaching" or anything. If and when they ask how I got that old dinosaur to run so fast, I offer them a LiveCD. That's all. I don't "recruit," "preach," or launch into a big ol' honking sales pitch about the benefits of one OS over another.

Except on my blog (http://robinsrantsandraves.wordpress.com) sometimes, and all the dance kids read each others' blogs so they kinda get it that way I guess, but I don't go around advertising Linux. I simply describe my own journey in my blog. Between the blog and the speed and simplicity of the "community computer," about 6 families have "converted" and they really don't need much support from me.

[vehemoth]

People who see Linux geeks always tweaking and fine-tuning their computers generally don't understand that they're doing it just because they can. They assume you're "fixing" it because it's broken!


I get that too, some of them see the great outcomes though. The problem is when they think all linuxen is like that, it's a bit worse seeing as my set up is very minimilistic and almost impossible to use without prior knowledge of exactly how it's set up.

[Copper Bezel]

Yeah, I'm always tweaking crap and using dodgy beta software, so when I get the chance to show off, it's a mix of "Yeah, this doesn't work yet" and "That is awesome, isn't it? Yeah, you can't actually have it."


linuxen is
Thanks. I'm an English teacher, and my brain just exploded.

[8jwong14]

People who are satisfied with what they have don't have any reason to switch.

People who see Linux geeks always tweaking and fine-tuning their computers generally don't understand that they're doing it just because they can. They assume you're "fixing" it because it's broken!

All I do is have a fast, ultralight Linux mixture with Xfce on a "community computer" that other kids at the dance studio can use between their classes. It's so easy they all use it effortlessly without any "coaching" or anything. If and when they ask how I got that old dinosaur to run so fast, I offer them a LiveCD. That's all. I don't "recruit," "preach," or launch into a big ol' honking sales pitch about the benefits of one OS over another.

Except on my blog (http://robinsrantsandraves.wordpress.com) sometimes, and all the dance kids read each others' blogs so they kinda get it that way I guess, but I don't go around advertising Linux. I simply describe my own journey in my blog. Between the blog and the speed and simplicity of the "community computer," about 6 families have "converted" and they really don't need much support from me.

That's cool, what you are doing. =)

[8jwong14]

I convinced a friend of mine that lives 3000km away of ubuntu just about mentioning all the features, free open source software, no viruses and no suggish registry. She has no time to install it tho, as i will do the installation for her through Team Viewer once she finds the time. She only uses the computer for surfing the web and writing a few documents so the gaming issue is nothing to think of ;)
If you are using TeamViewer, wouldn't you just be installing it using WUBI and not a full install? Or am I missing something?

[Cam42]

See: Signature.

[galacticaboy]

I don't normally try to convert people mostly because of the questions. I mean I can answer and don't mind it, but they start asking "Why is Linux free?" "How can they make it free?" "But don't they need money to make it?" "Why can't Microsoft make Windows free?" "Why does Microsoft hold a monopoly over their os?" and much more questions that I tend to answer, "Who cares? Just leave it alone, its free, don't knock it." I know some people care, but the 40 and 50 year old people who ask me that it does not matter, all they want to do is sure home depot and lowes' website, so don't ask me those questions. If you want an operating system that is free and you don't have to dish out a crap load of money for, don't knock it, just take it like I did!

Edit: Plus if I switch them, they will have many many questions and will end up spending hours at their home helping them because they learned Windows not Linux, if I had the time, I would, but I do not.

[vehemoth]

Thanks. I'm an English teacher, and my brain just exploded.
I have no idea whether that's bad or not but if you type `man grep` into a terminal and scroll to the bottom it has this
GNU's not Unix, but Unix is a beast; its plural form is Unixen.
I think that if you really want to convert them you have to use the same tactics as game makers, show of the fancy graphics.

[madjr]

See: Signature.

thx, but i already have dropbox

[wolfen69]

See: Signature.

"Ubuntu is not a mission" well, Shuttleworth might view that differently.

If I happen to mention linux and they seem genuinely interested, I will give a basic rundown of it and why I like it, but I don't push it. I really don't care anymore what people use.

[Copper Bezel]

I have no idea whether that's bad or not but if you type `man grep` into a terminal and scroll to the bottom it has this
Mostly, I was reacting to the combination of the nonstandard plural with the singular verb. = D

[vehemoth]

Mostly, I was reacting to the combination of the nonstandard plural with the singular verb. = D
= D I just said it as a bit of a joke after reading the grep man page, it was about the only time I've ever used it. I'd be interested to learn a bit more about this combination but maybe a PM is best as we are hijacking the thread a bit.

[KingYaba]

How can I convince my friends to use Ubuntu? Basically, what reasons should I discuss with them to convince them and give them real reasons to move to Uubntu?

Show them what it is and how to use it. If they're curious they'll explore Ubuntu. Personally, it's the small things that I find it worth using. Take, for example, holding down the alt key and using your mouse to drag windows around your desktop.

[Zlatan]

How can I convince my friends to use Ubuntu? Basically, what reasons should I discuss with them to convince them and give them real reasons to move to Uubntu?

Why should you convince anyone? What's in it for you? Somehow I doubt you get any bonus from Canonical;)

[rocksblues]

Why should I talk people into using Linux when Windows does such a great job for me? For example, a client comes to me with virus problems and asks me which AV program I use, I tell them I don't need one because I use Linux and there is no virus worries with Linux. Most people, like my daughter and girlfriend just got handed PC's running Linux and they adapted to it with ease. My girlfriend mostly does ebay and email so once again, very easy to adapt. Just make sure you know what they use the computer for and give them a few shortcuts on the desktop and no root access. Once a month I go through the house and run updates for all PC's and I have "install security updates automatically" checked so they install without me needing to do anything. Of course I get the questions about how can I use this for work since my office uses MS office, I show them the free alternative and explain that everything that you have to pay for separately with Windows is free with Linux.

[pr3zident]

How can I convince my friends to use Ubuntu? Basically, what reasons should I discuss with them to convince them and give them real reasons to move to Uubntu?

Tell them its free, and gets no viruses....and then tell them your computer is faster than there windows computer would ever be....

[Copper Bezel]

Why should you convince anyone? What's in it for you?

There are perfectly reasonable, relatively ideology-free reasons to want more people using the OS. More users means more support, and if a person likes a thing, he or she is generally likely to want to see it do well.

I can't say I'm ideology-free myself, although I wouldn't really care about free software if there was some actual competition within the software market.


Tell them its free, and gets no viruses....and then tell them your computer is faster than there windows computer would ever be....

Yes, repeat hyperbole ad infinitum until they stop talking to you. = ) Windows comes bundled with the machine, 7 and 8 are fairly fast, and 99% of Windows virus problems can be prevented with a couple of browser settings.

[pr3zident]

Yes, repeat hyperbole ad infinitum until they stop talking to you. = ) Windows comes bundled with the machine, 7 and 8 are fairly fast, and 99% of Windows virus problems can be prevented with a couple of browser settings.

yes i agree lol but we are trying to get them to use ubuntu not chase them away ...

[Gremlinzzz]

Nope.I just let them use what they want:popcorn:

[The Sorrow]

Most friends (unless theyre techies) wont care for linux and will be off the boat once they hear about the issues with windows games.

[Linuxratty]

Nope.I just let them use what they want:popcorn:

Same here...I gave some disks to some people who really were interested a couple months ago..For the most part..I say:"I run Linux" and their eyes glaze over,so I change the subject.

[johnnybgoode83]

Just show them your Ubuntu system in action and give them a live CD so they can try it themselves. I found that to be most effective

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

I have friends at work that use Linux all day as part of their job. They are the people that keep the workstations, servers, networks, and network-attached-storage (NAS) running.

There is no way to convince them to run Linux at home. Like myself, many have more than one computer, use virtualization, or dual/tripple boot. Some of them only have one OS installed on the single home computrer, and chose to run Microsoft Windows, Mac OSX, or Linux on their home computer.

As you can immagine there are some strong feelings in a group of people like that; however, we just let people use whatever works for them. These are not OS illiterate people either.

[Lisimelis]

I always wait until one of my friends is fed up with his system and wants a clean install of windows. Then i say to them to give Linux a try for a week or so to see how it fits them. Most of them don't use it more than a month (being hooked on MS, and not because they think badly of Linux) but some of them never turned back and keep using Ubuntu since!

[false truths]

Honestly, the most common thing that gets people interested in what my computer is running is that it's a HP computer, but, it's not Windows. In fact, it more closely resembles Mac OS X, but, after I tell them that it isn't, I usually already have them so interested that a copy of the live CD is enough to convert them.

There's one exception. That's my girlfriend. She uses her computer for surprisingly more than your average computer user, but, I begged her to do a WUBI install of 11.04, then once she did, I configured it to look and feel like mine since she already loved how my computer looked and felt. She didn't touch it at first because Windows did the job fine for her, but, then her flash player developed a memory leak and she found Ubuntu was the only way she could do things without that leak. So now she's an avid Ubuntu user and fan of Linux. The only thing that keeps her from switching completely is the webcam recording software her Windows has.