How do I persuade Windows users to try Linux

[Coop]

Well,most of the people I know use Windows,even though I showed them Beryl.
How do I persuade them to use Linux?
Please give me some tips!

[euler_fan]

I will admit prior to getting into linux I looked at systems running beryl and thought, "Geez, something like that has got to be for the experts!" And while I still don't run beryl, I know better than that about linux now. :)

I'm sorry to whomever originally posted/suggested this for not being able to cite you, but I love the idea:

Hand out live CD's as holiday gifts. Unless you have one particular person in mind, I suspect if you hand out 10 to some friends, at least one will try it, like it enough to be interested in installing it, and then you can let THEM convince the rest who didn't try to to give it a shot. Your friends know you like linux, but a no one is as pushy about something as a new convert. Linux included.

Hope that helps

[aysiu]

I wouldn't try to persuade them. Live and let live.

You can make them aware of Ubuntu. But don't try to convince them to use Ubuntu.

If you do convince them, they'll find the first excuse to leave Ubuntu for Windows as soon as possible, or they'll blame you/Ubuntu for any problems they encounter. There will be no ownership, since you initiated the move, not them.

If you don't convince them, they'll just find you annoying and think you're a Linux zealot.

[meng]

IMO, Beryl's a double-edged sword. It's pretty, but also causes some problems above and beyond a vanilla install of Ubuntu. Things seem to be improving, but it's still not uncommon (it seems) for someone's system to "break".

Here's my perspective: you can attract potential new users with BLING, but the main attraction of Linux for many other users is its freedom, security and stability. If the bling-y system compromises its apparent stability, then haven't we taken one step forward and two back, in the eyes of these new users? Then, when you point out that such-and-such-a-problem can be fixed by dropping to the command line ... I have visions of these bling-centric users running away from Linux as fast as they can.

So my advice is to temper your Linux evangelism and woo over those who are already inclined for other reasons. By all means flaunt Beryl as an example of its potential, but not THE selling point.

[dbbolton]

I wouldn't try to persuade them. Live and let live.



that's a hornets' nest i try to avoid.

[euler_fan]

I didn't mean to come off as endorsing mass propagandizing or pressuring others into trying a system that isn't right for them. Sorry if I came across that way.

Truth be told, the only person I've handed a live CD to expressed interest in trying linux but had the attitude of "Well, if I had the time, and if I wasn't worried about breaking my machine, and . . . ", so offering a live CD made sense. There are many people I know I would never even make the suggestion to (or send a live CD). My parents come to mind . . . :rolleyes:

By the same token, you have to wonder how many people AOL hooked back in the day (and continue to hook!) by handing out free CD's and nothing more.

[FuturePilot]

I think Live CDs are the best way. You can talk Linux up all you want, but it probably won't persuade them to use it. Let them see it and use it for themselves.

[aysiu]

This was written a while ago, but you may find it helpful:
How To: Convert Windows Users to Ubuntu (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=58862)

[Albi]

Only persuade them by informing them and letting them ask for it. For example, I told my friend I used Linux and at the beginning he was saying "Eww Linux I bet that sucks", but then a few months later he asked me "So what's so good about Linux?" and I told him a few things and gave him my LiveCD the next day.

Now he didn't install it or like it , because he found it too time consuming, and he didn't want to be bothered to solve the problems, so he just went back to Windows, and I just thought he's not the type of person that would like Linux, so I let it be.

But the point is, let someone make an informed decision rather than persuading them. Also, don't forget to mention the positives and negatives! Advertise it as an alternative rather than "solution".

[ixus_123]

maybe mention DRM, the EULA, forced upgrades (IE7), system requirements

[Quillz]

Give them a Live CD to make sure Ubuntu works with their hardware.

[sweemeng]

i didn't try to persuade people to use linux. i used to do that, then i just gave up. on the other hand, i'm known to be the guy who use it around. my friends is curious how this work. so i just do a demo.

sometime, you don't try to persuade people to use linux. but don't shy to admit you're a linux user, because you will raise awareness of it. when people wanted to know, show them. but don't just show the good, show what is not really working as well(which very few things don't work nowadays anyway).

[darkhatter]

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/4785/ak47ahe1.th.jpg (http://img295.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ak47ahe1.jpg)

nuff said

[Quillz]

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/4785/ak47ahe1.th.jpg (http://img295.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ak47ahe1.jpg)

nuff said
Seems a bit extreme to me. :p

[darkhatter]

Seems a bit extreme to me. :p

how do think I converted China and India to Linux..........:rolleyes:

[BarfBag]

Beryl can be a turning point for people, you just have to show it off last. Turn it off. Show them the desktops, Synaptic, OpenOffice, etc. Then show them Beryl out of the blue. I've converted quite a few people this way. ^_^

[Ningbojoe]

Make it easier to use! Without doing that, the hardcore Windows users will not move. Let alone the ones who want to move, but don't want to put the effort in.

[CubicleDweller]

If they are very much liberal tell them that by using Windows they are only further propagating the ideals of a Right Wing Money Hungry Commercial War Machine!

If they are otherwise just tell them it saves them money they can spend on guns or donate to the Republican Convention. ](*,)

[pay]

I gave a liveCD to my friend after he was impressed with beryl. My other friend then found out about it and told him to never use Linux because it will never work and it only for IT experts... The person that gave this "advice" has never used Linux before... So the easiest way to convert Windows users would have to be to remove the myth that Linux is difficult to use. In my oppion, Ubuntu is easier than Windows, it's just the fact that people are used to the "Windows way of things" that they don't understand Linux.

[freebeer]

I just let Windows do the job. :twisted:

[rabid9797]

Only persuade them by informing them and letting them ask for it. For example, I told my friend I used Linux and at the beginning he was saying "Eww Linux I bet that sucks", but then a few months later he asked me "So what's so good about Linux?" and I told him a few things and gave him my LiveCD the next day.

Now he didn't install it or like it , because he found it too time consuming, and he didn't want to be bothered to solve the problems, so he just went back to Windows, and I just thought he's not the type of person that would like Linux, so I let it be.

But the point is, let someone make an informed decision rather than persuading them. Also, don't forget to mention the positives and negatives! Advertise it as an alternative rather than "solution".

this is true, along with the guy who posts a oucple posts up, you can't force people to try it, some people just don't want to take the time, and forcing them they would blame you for their inconviences. the best thing to do is make them aware of it so if you find someone who is willing to learn, then you know they're ready for it.

sayings that apply to this:

"you can lead a horse to water..."
"i can only show you the door, you can have to walk through it"

personally, i don't try to inform my friends about linux becuase i know all of them want everything at their fingertips and as easy as possible.

[riven0]

I agree with freebeer. Windows will do the job good enough. As long as your friends see your using Linux without any problems, (by this, I mean no crashing, BSOD, spyware, viruses, etc), then they will start to get curious enough to want to try it.

Don't try to convert them, that's the wrong approach. Just make sure they know you're using it and, eventually, they'll come.

[neoflight]

do not! Better save the time in helping the neighborhood. Or you may even donate a fraction of the money equivalent to your time spend to feed the poor !

if u insist: then send some viruses or tell them to go to some weired websites so that they will find something you specially made for them. Delete some dll files if you may....;)

[lyceum]

While you really can't MAKE anyone do anything, once done I think this will help:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=338279

It's even better than a live CD!!!

[speedwell68]

I don't try to sell the virtues of linux to windows users. I try to sell them the virtues of open source as a whole. Try 'em on something like Firefox, show how to set it up, get 'em hooked on that then take 'em to the next level with say Thunderbird. Then I point out that there is a whole other OS out there based on the same ideals. I've converted a couple like that.

[rev_b]

Make it easier to use! Without doing that, the hardcore Windows users will not move. Let alone the ones who want to move, but don't want to put the effort in.

Linux is just as easy to use as windows. Yes, it works in a diferent way, and it's maybe harder to configure.

If you don't know how to do it, you have to learn. No one has ever did a full windows installation and configuration with just a empty hard drive and a Windows CD, without have learned first how to do it.

I was the typical windows "power user", that just got sick and tired of Microsoft "total control" policy; it's just ridiculous. So I care to learn how to deal with a completely different OS, still learning every day, and it took a couple of months to even get close to confortable configuring simple things. But it's worth it. My computer is more functional and productive than ever, and good looking too ;)

So I don't think "to persuade" is the correct aproach. Inform, talk about it, but people need to be motivated to try and learn something completely different.

[TooRight]

I have a friend that asked me to install ubuntu on his comp after his XP failed the authentication. Even though I explained that he wouldn't be able to play his favorite games, nor use all the applications that he used on windows, he still insisted. So I installed it.

Fast forward to three months of whining and bellyaching...arghhh!! He couldn't understand why I'm so thrilled with it. Umm... perhaps because of what I use my computer for (web development, surfing, etc), the fact that I have been actively customizing it to suit my needs and style, anddddddd that I have actually bothered to take the time to learnnnnnn how to use it!!

He'd call me to come over to "fix" his computer. Seems his instant messenger was gone :rolleyes: Yeah, never occured to him to click on any of the menus to find it. Then it was a three hour whine-fest because the nudie-cam-chat program that I told him he wouldn't be able to run on on ubuntu, actually wouldn't run on ubuntu!! :O

I finally just gave up and started telling him to buy xp, lol.

Some people just shouldn't be allowed near a computer, no matter what the OS is, lol

[jaimz]

I convinced my friend (he doesn't know much about computers or OS's) to try ubuntu
He had windows on his computer, completely screwed up, thing took like 5 minutes just to shut down
I told him I'll install ubuntu for him and once I had everything ready for him
He gave it a go
and never did he have an issue with his computer
matter of fact, he talked about how much faster and easier it was to use than windows

that coming from someone that doesn't know much about computers