Would you install and configure Ubuntu for someone you know... free of charge?

[aysiu]

In light of a recent remark in another thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=2462495#post2462495), I'm just curious.

This is for home users--not businesses. Though, if you'd do it for free for businesses (small, large, medium--please specify), too, please mention so in a reply.

Please try to pick the poll option that most closely reflects your situation. If it's close but doesn't match your situation exactly, just explain how it's off. If nothing is even remotely close to your situation, pick Other and then explain.

[ahaslam]

I'd do it for friends, family members, or co-workers for free ;)

Not sure about the co-workers though. Ubuntu, what's that then, eh?

[jdhore]

i'd do it for free for anyone including businesses. Except for the inherent flaw that will popup in Linux when it's widely used, i think the more users the better. i, however, may check their system specs to see if any of their hardware would be a PITA to get working. Oh and with servers at businesses, i'd install Debian if they let me.

[Cloudy]

Without a second thought, yes. As long as it's what they wanted.

[kostkon]

I have already done it for a friend. For free, of course!

[ssam]

have done this for someone i me at a LUG. we are now friends. (i got pizza, so maybe that does not count as free)

[aysiu]

A lot of these sentiments echo my own.

I would definitely want to make sure it was something they wanted--not just a free version of Windows that has no problems.

And I would definitely use the live CD to test out whether there might be problems I can't solve.

But if those two criteria were met, I'd do it for free for just about anyone--someone I know, someone I don't know, a small business.

I doubt a large business would ask for my services (especially since I know nothing about networking or system administration of multiple work stations), but if they did, I'd probably charge them something, and they probably wouldn't "purchase" a service that was free, anyway.

[bullgr]

it depents alway how many free time we have...

[Mateo]

no, absolutely not. if i did that i'd have to try and fix every problem they run into to.

[daynah]

I'd do it free of charge for people I could. I wouldn't be able to set up a edubuntu network, that's too important, but I would make the effort to stalk down someone who could, because it's so important. I wouldn't get a business to pay, but if it was too large for me, I would find other people who answered " Yup for free" to help out. If the business I worked for (small) asked to switch, I would be giddy! I wouldn't have to freak out over their computers all the time!

If it were a business, or something that someone probably would expect to get paid for, I would get some of those "made for ubuntu" or whatever they say now stickers and ask the business to, in return, but those stickers on their computer. My current employer has a lot of people see his laptop, and I think that would be fabulous.

In fact, at my school some peeps are thinking of getting the old Linux club started up again (the school I transferred from got this shindig going!). Any student, teacher, alum, whatever could get linux help as long as they signed up to be a member of the club. It was free help, but by signing up as a member, it gave linux bandwagon advertisement and it got the club more funds from the school. Also, it made the people who were new to linux less likely to switch back because they had physical people there to help.

[ComplexNumber]

Would you install and configure Ubuntu for someone you know... free of charge?yes, of course! i've already done so with ubuntu and other ditstros on numerous occasions. why would i want to charge for it? :confused:

[karellen]

yes, I already did this, for friends and for my girlfriend

[kevinf311]

Without hesitation--I'd even do it for someone I don't know

Although I would take out the without hesitation. I would probably profile the person and their hardware first to make sure it would be somewhat painless to install and configure. Also to make sure that the person would be receptive to another Operating System.

I've assisted a couple roommates in installing Ubuntu, but the initiative was mostly their own.

[tbroderick]

I'd do it for beer and/or dinner.

[MrCheese]

In light of a recent remark in another thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=2462495#post2462495), I'm just curious.

This is for home users--not businesses. Though, if you'd do it for free for businesses (small, large, medium--please specify), too, please mention so in a reply.

Please try to pick the poll option that most closely reflects your situation. If it's close but doesn't match your situation exactly, just explain how it's off. If nothing is even remotely close to your situation, pick Other and then explain.

I'd do anything I could to show people there is a third way - I always advocate linux to anyone who will listen (and quite a few who won't).

[PartisanEntity]

I have installed Ubuntu for friends and family members and I would never charge them money. I also would help out colleagues and would not charge them money.

On a lighter side, installing Ubuntu and having it up and running usually takes about 20-30 mins if there aren't any serious issues to deal with, so it would really not be appropriate to charge people :) A coffee and biscuits would be more than enough...

[voided3]

I helped one of my friends get it up and running on his box before. Too bad I can't convince my family!

[plb]

People willing to install for free should also check out this thread..
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=411040

[Adamant1988]

My friends and family are all well aware of my Linux user but I make it a point not to push it on them unless they "need it" or "want it"

An example I've had of a friend NEEDING Linux was a couple months ago she managed to infect her system with some malware that totally wrecked it. Frantically searching for her Windows Restore CDs turned up nothing, and she called me crying. I went down with an Ubuntu disk and was able to get the system functioning, I set up Ubuntu for her so that she wouldn't need to mess with any of that and she was happy with it until the machine's death. She purchased a new machine and is now using Windows again, oh well.

In any case, I can't justify charging for installing any distribution of Linux on a system, although sometimes I feel like I should be charging for that AND support. As of right now, I've never charged anyone including strangers for the installation.

[MRiGnS]

Why should i charge someone for something this easy? If somebody asks gently i'll do it without hesitating.

i mean its not gentoo or something which takes much much longer to set up and configure but i probably would do that to.

[jdhore]

Why should i charge someone for something this easy? If somebody asks gently i'll do it without hesitating.

i mean its not gentoo or something which takes much much longer to set up and configure but i probably would do that to.

yeah...if it was a easy OS and reasonably compatible hardware, i'd gladly do it...but i'd be hesitant to install Gentoo or FreeBSD or Slackware for someone that didn't know Linux basics and would be calling me for every little issue.

[diskotek]

i installed linux for my two friends: and for today; i gave out about 7 ubuntu cds (4 original cd's, 3 copied ones).

and i realized that mostly 64bit processor owners are interesting in it...

[ViRMiN]

Only if I wasn't expect to support it! Get enough calls from XP users!

[diskotek]

I'd do it for beer and/or dinner.

people would do that that without asking i believe..if you installed them linux :) hehe my friends did that (they are two people that i installed but not problem :) )

[wuzzerd]

I've done it a couple of times, and they are happy.

There's a guy sitting next to me sucking my bandwidth. If he asks me one more question about Vi$ta (of which I know nothing) he's gonna get it too, with a free link to the beginners forum.

[spamzilla]

I would do it for beer and likewise for fixing their systems :D

[earobinson]

I have done it for people I dont know before, providing I had the time I would do it again.

Want some help, send me a message!

[justin whitaker]

I would install it on anyone's machine for free....I guess hands on support would have to be for some meager remuneration: pizza and or beer will suffice. :D

[rolando2424]

I installed it for a friend once (free of charge).

5 days later, he comes to me and says that he removed Ubuntu...

[mssever]

Ubuntu is a truly great OS. I'd gladly install it for free. (If I weren't willing to do stuff for free, I wouldn't be on ubuntuforums.org.)

[kvonb]

I have already done 3 installs for friends, including Nvidia driver AND Beryl, and completely remotely over the Internet too! And 2 of them are still using it today.

The third one I knew was a bad candidate, but he begged me, so I went ahead. He dropped it a few days later!

I always make sure that I explain the possible dangers, and also explain that they will need to be open to learning something new.

You can get a feel for the type of person who is a good "candidate" for Ubuntu, there are a few that I have refused to do, or talked them out of it.

I would never push it onto someone, that is unproductive.

It is not worth wasting your time on the "Windows did x better" type.

The best thing to do is get them to try the LiveCD for a while, they will either like it or hate it, simple as that.

[matthew]

I voted "other" because all the poll options were future tense, and I've done this for at least 7-8 people in the last year. I would gladly do an installation, for free, for anyone who asked me and was interested/willing/able to go through the effort of learning a new OS.

I have told a couple of people, "No," because they wanted everything to be like their previous OS and weren't able/willing to take the time needed to make such a big adjustment.

[ahaslam]

yeah...if it was a easy OS and reasonably compatible hardware, i'd gladly do it...but i'd be hesitant to install Gentoo or FreeBSD or Slackware for someone that didn't know Linux basics and would be calling me for every little issue.

Ahh, Slackware. I'd gladly install that for absolutely anyone that wanted it. I honestly believe that it's the simplest distro out there, especially its derivatives such as Zenwalk that install in 15-20 minutes ;)