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View Full Version : Could you have been converted to Ubuntu? Were you?



aysiu
May 14th, 2007, 05:28 PM
Every now and then, a thread comes up that discusses "converting" users from ______ to Ubuntu. Here are some examples:

How Many People have you converted to Linux/Unix so far? (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=411777)
An attempt to convert my girlfriend to Ubuntu has failed! (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=283554&highlight=convert)
Another attempt to convert a Windows user down the drain. . . (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=196165&highlight=convert)
Ideas to convert Windows users (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=331303&highlight=convert)
How To: Convert Windows Users to Ubuntu (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=58862&highlight=convert)
Made a new Ubuntu convert (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=442067&highlight=convert)


"______" could be Windows, Mac, Gentoo... whatever. It's usually Windows, of course.

I'm just curious:

For those of you who came to Ubuntu on your own, is there anything someone could have said to you to "convert" you to Ubuntu? If so, what? And if not, why not?

For those of you who were "converted" by someone you know, what did that someone do to convert you? What did that person say? How did she or he sell Ubuntu to you?

SZF2001
May 14th, 2007, 05:30 PM
I just kinda found my way to Ubuntu on my own. Needed an OS for my old crap computer since the tech guys wouldn't provide me with Windows (legal stuff).

I don't think anyone could have "converted" me. If I saw Linux as a religious thing I probably would feel awkward and try FreeBSD or something else.

Sunflower1970
May 14th, 2007, 05:32 PM
No, I had to find Linux/Ubuntu on my own. My brother had already tried. Told me all the benefits of Linux, and although I was very aware of them, at the time he was using it (about 7-8 years ago) it didn't look too friendly...something that I wasn't ready to figure out.

Although I wish I had listened to him a bit more :) I probably would not have ever gotten rid of my first computer I ever bought (Dell Dimension XPS D266). I'd still be using it (lol)

H.E. Pennypacker
May 14th, 2007, 05:36 PM
I had been using Windows for quite a while, and it turned out that there was nothing else in sight. Everyone knows of Macs, but you can't "download" OSX. I developed an interest in Linux, and almost a year later, I am still here, using Ubuntu as my main (and only) operating system.

Besides, Linux scriptures, and stories of ancient saints drove me to the open source world. There's a gravitational force coming from Linux that is found in these scriptures, and the words of the GNU GPL spoke to me in my dreams. The light was seen, and I had to accept the true word of St. IGNUcius.

I could have been converted, but there was no one around to convert me. If someone gave me a CD, I would have taken it.

Ozor Mox
May 14th, 2007, 05:36 PM
I was given an Ubuntu CD by a friend but didn't do anything with it for months, though I wanted to. I suppose I just feared having to change and wanted to wait for a good opportunity where I had the free time to mess around with it. I didn't realise at the time that I would need very little time to adapt, I only realised that after I converted!

The friend who gave me the Ubuntu CD runs servers with all sorts of operating systems on them including Windows, FreeBSD and various Linux distributions, though he's phasing out the Windows systems now :popcorn:

I was eventually inspired to make the switch when I drove my friend to PC World to buy a new Mac. I fancied doing the same for a while, but then remembered I had an Ubuntu CD lying around that I was yet to try, so I did and, although I considered switching back a couple of times when wireless problems were getting annoying, I got through it and haven't looked to use anything else since.

Since I switched to Ubuntu, as is natural I suppose, I've begun to support free software far more than I did before. I'm at the point now where I wouldn't switch back to proprietary unless some majorly freakish space-time dimension collapse rendered GNU/Linux and BSD nonexistent, but I think it's pretty safe to say that's unlikely :)

I don't use my computer for anything specialised. Just internet, email, programming, working, listening to music, watching DVDs, and the occasional game. Ubuntu has everything I need for those things.

goumples
May 14th, 2007, 05:43 PM
Took a network operating systems class on novell suse linux enterprise, thats what caused me to try it on my home pc in the first place.

aysiu
May 14th, 2007, 05:46 PM
I don't think I could have been converted. I can be quite stubborn sometimes.

The impetus for me trying Linux in the first place was spyware infestation in Windows. Then I came back to it again the following year for ease of customization. Eventually I tried Ubuntu because of all the hype and stayed because of the community and documentation.

I really can't imagine how someone would have been able to succesfully "convert" me, though. If someone had, I probably would have called her a Linux zealot and clung even more religiously to Windows XP.

Adamant1988
May 14th, 2007, 05:46 PM
Every now and then, a thread comes up that discusses "converting" users from ______ to Ubuntu. Here are some examples:

How Many People have you converted to Linux/Unix so far? (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=411777)
An attempt to convert my girlfriend to Ubuntu has failed! (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=283554&highlight=convert)
Another attempt to convert a Windows user down the drain. . . (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=196165&highlight=convert)
Ideas to convert Windows users (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=331303&highlight=convert)
How To: Convert Windows Users to Ubuntu (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=58862&highlight=convert)
Made a new Ubuntu convert (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=442067&highlight=convert)


"______" could be Windows, Mac, Gentoo... whatever. It's usually Windows, of course.

I'm just curious:

For those of you who came to Ubuntu on your own, is there anything someone could have said to you to "convert" you to Ubuntu? If so, what? And if not, why not?

For those of you who were "converted" by someone you know, what did that someone do to convert you? What did that person say? How did she or he sell Ubuntu to you?
I came to Ubuntu on my own, a little confused actually. When I first started with any Linux operating systems, I started with Red Hat 7.2. I loved the GNOME desktop and such, but then I lost my install when my computer died, and didn't bother to continue playing with the software until probably last year (about a 4 year gap of time, give or take). When I came back the first thing I looked for was Shadowman's familiar face, and he was no where to be found. I then went to Suse, followed by Ubuntu, always grading them by the Red Hat scale in my mind.

Honestly though, if someone had come to me and tried to convert me I would have laughed at them. When you try to convince someone to switch an operating system, it's not much different than trying to sell them a product. Treating the product like a religious icon scares the consumer, and is a bad idea. Sell the consumer on the product first, and they will eventually learn about the community themselves if they so desire. Community is *not* a selling point for anyone I know, and it just adds unnecessary confusion.

JNowka
May 14th, 2007, 06:00 PM
Actually I came to Ubuntu because of just one person. They basically told me its to hard to do. I personally took that as a challenge. Of course the guy also tried to pawn off some BS that he felt would try and scare me away from it. Here are some things he said.

"I just installed this new game, Enemy Territory, but I had to put in a few pages of "binary" in order to get it to work." --> First tip that he was lying. An OS or game wouldn't be in existence if you were required to type in pages of binary to get it to work.

"I am getting a Super User password from someone then I will be able to access any Ubuntu computer with it." --> The one thing that I knew was that Linux = security for the most part. I knew that it was used on massive numbers of servers so this could not be.

He also told me a few more lies, but I didn't buy into them. And in order to prove to myself that this guy was just full of himself I got a Breezy Badger CD and haven't looked back to Windows since. Because it was self evident that this was, is , and always will be a better OS.

aysiu
May 14th, 2007, 06:05 PM
That's a great story, JNowka. Thanks for sharing!

JAPrufrock
May 14th, 2007, 06:08 PM
I was using XP but I was keeping my eye on Linux distros with the idea of jumping when some of my favorite apps were supported (autocad, a good accounting program, etc), because I absolutely detested MS's business practices. However, before I was ready to convert, I received some popup spam on my desktop - Get Genuine- so I jumped.

By the way, I have also seen the light and have accepted the true word of St. IGNUcius.

JNowka
May 14th, 2007, 06:09 PM
Trust me aysiu, it is my pleasure.

Another thing I would like to say, is I probably would have had a much harder time if it wasn't for the community here. They are all great.

And the one thing that will always amaze me is "You are everywhere on these forums at once" At least at times it seems like that.

ThinkBuntu
May 14th, 2007, 06:13 PM
I came on my own out of curiosity. I wanted a Linux desktop and had nearly no knowledge of the Linux world. According to Distrowatch, it's by far the most popular, and Wikipedia gave me the impression that this was the runaway favorite, so I went with it. Wiped OS X, but generally wasn't impressed. I bought an IBM ThinkPad used because in general, with a built-in right click and what not, I knew this sort of computer would fit better with Linux.

Zenwalk was the first one I put on the ThinkPad. Then I came back to Ubuntu, but had issues upgrading to Feisty Beta, so I went back to Zenwalk...then came the deluge. Over a couple-month period, I used, off the top of my head, Arch, Debian (Etch), Sabayon, MEPIS, Mint, Zenwalk, Ubuntu Feisty, openSUSE, and a few others.

If I were coming from Windows, I probably would have settled down rather easily with Ubuntu or some other one, but my expectations are through the roof since I'm a life-long Mac user. I do still use OS X on my MacBook, but mostly for the better wireless performance. Beyond that, I always use the ThinkPad.

I went back once Feisty went Final, saw that Etch ran much, much faster and gave me the same capabilities. Used Etch for a bit, but at this point I preferred KDE to GNOME and Xfce, and even after tweaking KDE, GTK+ apps still looked very, very bad. I went back to Sabayon for a little while, then to the Sabayon Mini CD, and finally, frustrated with the time-consuming emerge process on my laptop to get OpenOffice, etc, went to PCLinuxOS.

PCLOS isn't perfect, and I was put off by the Windows-like logo and default interface, but now I have a very, very nice KDE setup that's not Windows-y in any way. The OS is as fast as any I've used, although to a stopwatch I bet Debian, Arch, and Zenwalk would win by a hair. The package list is a little slimmer, but only for odd stuff like the GIMP-svg plugin that I use.

So, I came of my own volition and left the same. It was a good place to get my feet wet, especially because on my MacBook, I did have to get my hands dirty to get the 1280*800 res working, or to re-map the Enter key as a right click. But I don't think it's the best out there.

GiantRobot
May 14th, 2007, 06:16 PM
I'm pretty sure the main reason I switched to Linux in general (and later settling down on Kubuntu) was my changing attitude towards privacy and my freedoms. I was starting to get tired of the fact that my entire computer was full of proprietary software. The limitations enforced on me were to say the least, over the top.

Linux was a perfect way to try and "free myself". I alter settled on Kubuntu for it's ease of use and user friendliness.

Anthem
May 14th, 2007, 06:24 PM
Converted? Ubuntu is a religion now?

I recommend we send people door-to-door if we want to see REAL results.

aysiu
May 14th, 2007, 06:28 PM
Converted? Ubuntu is a religion now? I'm just using the language I saw in the threads linked to in the first post.

starcraft.man
May 14th, 2007, 06:33 PM
Converted? Ubuntu is a religion now?

I recommend we send people door-to-door if we want to see REAL results.

Lol, we can call it the Unified Ubuntu Commune/Kibbutz :D

Seriously though, in response to the question of how I got to Ubuntu, hmmm, not really sure... It was a combination of things, the two most prominent being my unquantifiable hate for Vista (between the DRM, the stupid Aero, and being treated like a pirate with WGA) and I was ready to try something different cuz I was fast getting tired of problems with XP. After looking around, I tried opensuse (not using that again, I don't feel like supporting novell), fedora and debian and then settled on Ubuntu. I liked the layout, and I really liked the community here... its nice to feel wanted and "not just another customer that has to prove he's NOT pirating".

Oh, and maybe a bit of my interest came from Leo Laporte, I love the guy hes great, great podcasts too :D

So, ya, maybe if I'd known someone like me I could have been converted, but I wasn't. I do convert though now, I'm up to 5 people last time I checked, and they weren't all techie :)

Adamant1988
May 14th, 2007, 06:35 PM
Converted? Ubuntu is a religion now?

I recommend we send people door-to-door if we want to see REAL results.

It's an unfortunate choice of word by the community. Convert is associated with religion, but this word is used by the Mac camp as much as the Linux communities use it. Perhaps it is because each operating system has a certain ideology backing it? Who knows.


Oh, and maybe a bit of my interest came from Leo Laporte, I love the guy hes great, great podcasts too :D

Leo is the reason I'm using Linux at all. I remember him pimping Red Hat so much that I actually got my Mother's credit card and ordered Red Hat 7.2 disks.

starcraft.man
May 14th, 2007, 06:41 PM
It's an unfortunate choice of word by the community. Convert is associated with religion, but this word is used by the Mac camp as much as the Linux communities use it. Perhaps it is because each operating system has a certain ideology backing it? Who knows.

I think mostly it might have been picked because windows users can sometimes seem like a cult, it might not feel like so from the inside, but looking at it now I can see how such a perception can come about. Not to mention how MS enjoys misinforming/brainwashing their users. (just for an example, look at the number of windows converts that try to find an AV before someone tells em they don't need it :p)


Leo is the reason I'm using Linux at all. I remember him pimping Red Hat so much that I actually got my Mother's credit card and ordered Red Hat 7.2 disks.

YAY!!! Go Leo, I love his tWiT podcasts, in fact I gotta say, compared to a lot of TV shows I find I rather listen to his podcasts, except maybe CSI (vegas) I have an addiction to that... I need meetings to get off it :p.

notwen
May 14th, 2007, 06:44 PM
I wasn't converted, I was more curious. It all started w/ me obtaining a copy of Slack 3.5 at a comp show in 98. From then I discovered Debian Woody, from there I started checking out any Debian based distro I came across and low & behold I came across Ubuntu In late '06 and I haven't looked back. =] And to be frankly honest, I was a big IRC kid(still am today) and I wanted to use BX/Linux so the "leet" kids couldn't packet me offline; it somehow got me to where I am today, lol. --sad, but true--

RudolfMDLT
May 14th, 2007, 06:44 PM
I wasn't converted I came on my own .... and stayed. I don't think many people can be converted, as far as I've seen they have to be thoroughly fed up with what ever they are using or they have to be computer enthusiasts in order to tack on the Linux learning curve.The curve has become a much more gentle one with the release of feisty, agreed, but I still find that if the pain threshold of keeping for argument sake windows is less than learning something new they'll stick with the old.

dannyboy79
May 14th, 2007, 06:44 PM
A guy at my work was using Breezy and he gave me a fresh copy of it when it came out. I took it home and let it sit around for a long time, then finally I heard a newer version came out and was like, WOW, that was only 6 months and they already have a new version? So I downloaded it, tried out the Live CD and fell in love with it. It was my first Linux Distro ever and I knew she was the one. I bought a whole other computer just for her and I love it!!

I have tried to convert a customer of mine. I work on computers as a side job and a customer came to me and asked me what I could do for him. His PS was all falling apart and he still had Win98 and it was an ancient PC. He bought Win2000 and told me to load it up. I told him that sooner or later than Win2000 wouldn't be supported within updates anymore just like his Win98 and that he should try out Ubuntu. He said ok, and I told him that I'd set it up so he could have his trusty Win since that's what he knew and then I could install Ubuntu as well. So I set him up with Edgy Xubuntu as a dual boot within Win 2000. The only really reason I think he won't use linux is because he is a huge online gambler. Poker, No-Limit to be exact. I setup Wine for him and got Poker Stars working and I also tried Full Tilt but couldn't get it to connect to the server ever so I uninstalled it before he got any bad impressions about linux as a whole. THen I tried to get Party Poker but found that they only had the Online Java based way to play thru linux, so I was only able to setup those 2 poker things and only 1 is natively installed thru wine so it'll work to it's full potential. He belongs to many others but I told him that there just wasn't the support needed yet. I certainly gave him plenty of links to new online Poker sites that worked within linux but he never heard of them. So I am guessing that I may here back from him in 2008 or is it 2009 when Win2000 stops sending out updates and by that time I am sure the Onlline Poker world in Linux sill be great.

That's my story.

Adamant1988
May 14th, 2007, 06:46 PM
I think mostly it might have been picked because windows users can sometimes seem like a cult, it might not feel like so from the inside, but looking at it now I can see how such a perception can come about. Not to mention how MS enjoys misinforming/brainwashing their users. (just for an example, look at the number of windows converts that try to find an AV before someone tells em they don't need it :p)



YAY!!! Go Leo, I love his tWiT podcasts, in fact I gotta say, compared to a lot of TV shows I find I rather listen to his podcasts, except maybe CSI (vegas) I have an addiction to that... I need meetings to get off it :p.

I think perhaps it has to do with the philosophy behind each operating system.

Mac OS X == Operating System Art.
GNU/Linux == Free, and geeky.
Windows == A business product.

Although I have no information to back this, it does seem that, as a rule, the more creatively inclined drift to the Mac side of things, while the technologically inclined drift towards GNU/Linux, and the consumer crowd drift to Windows. Anyway, we've hijacked the thread enough, if you want to continue on this PM me :)

forestpixie
May 14th, 2007, 06:47 PM
No-one could've converted me - had to do it for myself and it has taken a while. Downloaded and copied 2 or 3 versions of Ubuntu, got a copy of Gentoo and tried that Topologilinux business and a couple of other distros which unfortunately turned into coasters - and every time I couldn't get on the net - USB modem.

Got a router 2 weeks ago, downloaded and installed this - VERY happy, just using my win2k for 1 set of applications (vsti's) but looking at Ubuntu studio.....

However - converting other people is a different story

my son wants me to build him a pc - which i have promised to do but he'll have no option as to which os he gets!


If anyone does want to convert they should use the forums as a selling point though - made it much easier for me .

heimo
May 14th, 2007, 06:52 PM
YAY!!! Go Leo, I love his tWiT podcasts.

Funny coincidence that I'm right now listening to Leo on Windows Weekly talking about Vista. :)

No, I wasn't converted - I found Ubuntu "myself" - no one tried to convince me. I probably couldn't be converted unless I was already looking for another operating system / distribution. I've converted one person to Ubuntu, but she later switched back. :( I don't feel comfortable preaching about our religion ;) ;) but I let people - who ask my opinion - know that I use Ubuntu and I'm available if they want to ask anything about it. Some do - and I recommend they try Live-CD.

Dragonbite
May 14th, 2007, 06:53 PM
Walked into this myself.

Previously I was using Gentoo Linux but compiling on 500MHz and downloading on dial-up made maintaining and updating a chore.

When I found out ShipIt sends CDs for free, I knew I wanted to try it and so I waited for them to come in (Breezy Badger).

I compared it against another Gentoo installation and SuSE 9.1 and it won out because it was easy to install and easy to maintain.:guitar:
Unfortunately my wife is used to Windows and doesn't have time (or interest) to be re-taught, and there are still a few programs that I prefer for Windows that I'm not fully happy with the Open Source equivalent.

But the kids and I still use Edubuntu but alas, last night when we had to get something done I ended up doing it in Windows.

ThinkBuntu
May 14th, 2007, 06:55 PM
It's an unfortunate choice of word by the community. Convert is associated with religion, but this word is used by the Mac camp as much as the Linux communities use it. Perhaps it is because each operating system has a certain ideology backing it? Who knows.

Leo is the reason I'm using Linux at all. I remember him pimping Red Hat so much that I actually got my Mother's credit card and ordered Red Hat 7.2 disks.
The Mac camp's always used "Switch," not "Convert." We try to get users to switch.

dannyboy79
May 14th, 2007, 07:00 PM
I think perhaps it has to do with the philosophy behind each operating system.

Mac OS X == Operating System Art.
GNU/Linux == Free, and geeky.
Windows == A business product.

Although I have no information to back this, it does seem that, as a rule, the more creatively inclined drift to the Mac side of things, while the technologically inclined drift towards GNU/Linux, and the consumer crowd drift to Windows. Anyway, we've hijacked the thread enough, if you want to continue on this PM me :)


I think you hit this on the head. I have a friend who is pretty computer illeterate. You know what he says to me. He wants to get a iMac because he wants to setup all his cd's in itunes. I thought, man has Apple really brain washed people just as bad as Windows?? I proceeded to terll him about Amorok and the many others Music players/library organizing programs within Linux. Heck, I even showed him. I forget which one and he was impressed! It brought up the Album Artwork and everything. So hopefully I have informed a little nstead of him just listening to the TV.

Then I have others, like parents of friends of mine who say they'd never go to linux cause if they have a problem who do they call? Like if they bought a Dell, they'd call Dell to get Help. Well since I work on computers on the side I told em they could call me. They said they couldn't bother me all the time, then I told them that I was pretty sure that Canonical sold support but I wasn't sure so I need to look into this.

PS (the dell example was obviously before Dell and Canonical agreement to start selling Dell's with Ubuntu on it, which is awesome by the way. I'd never buy 1 as I build all my own computers but for getting more parents like in my example, it's a sure fire way to increase OS market share)

Adamant1988
May 14th, 2007, 07:06 PM
The Mac camp's always used "Switch," not "Convert." We try to get users to switch.

You're absolutely right, I don't know where my head was. I stand corrected.

Anthem
May 14th, 2007, 07:18 PM
It's an unfortunate choice of word by the community. Convert is associated with religion, but this word is used by the Mac camp as much as the Linux communities use it. Perhaps it is because each operating system has a certain ideology backing it? Who knows.
There's a reason it's called "The Cult of Mac."

Hardcore Mac evangelists are pretty annoying... if I knew any hardcore linux evangelists, I bet they'd be worse.

The best pitch is "try it and see." That or "Dad, I'm fixing your windows installation this weekend."

b0ng0
May 14th, 2007, 07:27 PM
A friend of mine actually told me about it. Previously my only experience with Linux had been on Red Hat at university but after Windows crashing frequently and having to format about twice a year I tried out Kubuntu and with a little help have managed to keep on using Ubuntu although I still have to use Windows for several apps.

YokoZar
May 14th, 2007, 07:32 PM
The Mac camp's always used "Switch," not "Convert." We try to get users to switch.No, we try to get users to upgrade.

ThinkBuntu
May 14th, 2007, 07:38 PM
There's a reason it's called "The Cult of Mac."

Hardcore Mac evangelists are pretty annoying... if I knew any hardcore linux evangelists, I bet they'd be worse.

The best pitch is "try it and see." That or "Dad, I'm fixing your windows installation this weekend."

The "Cult of Mac" (just how we got branded by some nitwit author) is pretty much dead. If it's been replaced, the new "cult" is a bunch of college Freshmen who yammer about how much prettier their PC is. And the "switch" ads pretty much threw the dignity of Mac promoters out the door by over-simplifying true points and under-emphasizing some of the other neat points about Macs. Not to mention, the least thing the Mac world needed was to be generalized as a bunch of B-movie actors who "act cool" and make fun of a pretty reasonable, chilled IT guy.

The real "cult of Mac" was best characterized by MacAddict, a magazine that now is actually dead. It's very interesting how the iPhone, Apple removing "computers" from their name, the "switch" ads, and MacAddict becoming "MacLife" all coincided. In short, it's no coincidence. At one time, when I subscribed to MacAddict, it was an amazingly good publication.

Inside would be comprehensive reviews of all sorts of Mac-compatible products, the likes of which would often be glossed over or given the third degree by MacWorld (owned by PCWorld). You got a disc jam-packed with freeware, shareware, and how-tos. In each edition, which was eminently readable, there were all sorts of Mac articles, editorials, reviews, how-tos, and previews.

When the iPod 3G came out, and Apple understood that its iPod was a surprise hit, you could just feel everything change. OSX stopped coming out with cutting-edge features. The website got blanketed with multimedia ads, and the amazing G5 tower only got very brief face time. Then came Boot Camp. Then the switch from the far-superior PPC to an Intel chipset.

I could write much more here, but eh. I really should get a blog!

MontanaMax
May 14th, 2007, 07:40 PM
The only thing that converted me to Ubuntu (and Linux in general) was being extremely frustrated at Microsoft Windows crashes and system rebuilds and losing my license information. I was about to either buy a new copy of do something unethical, and as I had done a paper on open source software a few months before I decided to try out a couple of Live CDs.

And I was ready to give up on Linux after the first three live CD's and installs couldn't give me a working system. Suse blew up, Mandrake blew up, and CentOS wouldn't complete the installation at all. Kubuntu actually worked - and worked very well.

So the bottom line is I think all this talk of converting users is wasted energy - people will try it on their own when they are frustrated with the old and curious about the new. The key thing is making sure that the initial user experience - installation and hardware configuration especially - is so transparent and easy that there are no reasons for a person to want to go back.

dannyboy79
May 14th, 2007, 07:41 PM
I could write much more here, but eh. I really should get a blog!
kind of off topic but forget about "getting" a blog, make one. or make your own website. It's pretty easy with linux and apache.

ThinkBuntu
May 14th, 2007, 07:44 PM
kind of off topic but forget about "getting" a blog, make one. or make your own website. It's pretty easy with linux and apache.
Web Designer and Ruby programmer. Could in a heartbeat! (Link removed by me) is my website :^)

I'll pull that link down at the end of today before Google can snatch it. Looks unprofessional if someone searches my business name.

aysiu
May 14th, 2007, 07:52 PM
So the bottom line is I think all this talk of converting users is wasted energy - people will try it on their own when they are frustrated with the old and curious about the new. The key thing is making sure that the initial user experience - installation and hardware configuration especially - is so transparent and easy that there are no reasons for a person to want to go back. That about sums it up for me. Well put, MontanaMax.

rajeev1204
May 14th, 2007, 07:53 PM
Hi

My story is as follows ...........

I had a pirated ( illegal) copy of windows XP as do 90 percent of all users in India ( But thats another topic ) . All antivirus is pirated and so on and so forth . Norton is the most popular here.

Anyways , the guilt of piracy was making me uncomfortable . So i started looking for alternatives to all the software i had . I switched to the very nice and free AVAST antivirus and zone alarm for security needs . And some free anti spyware too .

IE 7 made its debut a few months ago and so i decided to try it out since those upgrade ads were all over yahoo etc.. .So i download IE 7 but when i try to install it u get the message -- This copy of windows is not genuine . Ok fair enough , lets try FIREFOX for a change - ads for that too are popular . OK downloaded and installed . Cool .

Next media player 11 comes out but can i install it ? Obviously not . Totally put off and also realising that any critical or important software i like may start checking for WGA ( genuine copy ) and thats not good . The next step ? LINUX !

So i google it and come to this ugly website linux.org and immediately put off again . Arrgh.

But i read on anyways and it points to a new distro for newbies called ubuntu . Hmm strange name but lets see what that is about .

I visit ubuntu.com and was totally impressed . A professional looking website so i assume its a good distro . ( Also i was looking for something free ) .

Download it on cd. Install in 20 min . Xserver problem solved in 2 hours same day through the excellent forums .

Ok all configured and ready to try my new distro .

Everything is just as simple as windows , navigating menus etc , and so much better in many ways . The first thing that catches the eye .. The synaptic package manager . and 20000 different software in one place ,Absolutely Free !

Unbelievable . The next few days was spent getting familiar with the commands etc .

My only concern - could i run my favourite game quake 4 in ubuntu ? YES I COULD ! :)

The conversion is complete.......


Thank you for reading .(Sorry if its a bit lengthy)


regards

rajeev

P.S i did not have any issues with XP crashing etc and was perfectly happy with it . Still use to play some games like COD 2.

kebes
May 14th, 2007, 08:00 PM
I found Ubuntu on my own. I had been rather dissatisfied with Windows for a variety of reasons (mostly the inability to truly configure and control the system), and was wishing for an alternative.

I vaguely knew about Linux, and decided to start giving these "LiveCDs" a try. In a very short period of time, I moved through different distributions, and eventually settled into Kubuntu.

However I could certainly have been convinced to switch, if someone had tried. Or, more to the point, I would have switched much sooner if somehow had told me how relatively painless it would be (and, more importantly, how truly open and powerful Linux was). So, looking back, I do wish that someone had at least tried to sell me on Linux.

Now, I admit I'm especially curious about technology and computers in particular, so I was willing to put in the effort. That's not true of everyone. With regard to getting people to switch, I agree that being evangelical about it doesn't do much good. But, at least, we should "get the word out" enough that those who *are* curious are put in touch with helpful communities (local LUGs, these forums, etc.) so that they can satisfy their curiosity.

Whether or not they stick with Linux is, of course, up to them.

jerrylamos
May 14th, 2007, 08:08 PM
I worked at IBM development which uses Linux and ******* and whatever fits business needs. I gave a good try at Red Hat 7, 7.2, 8, 9 and my troubles never seemed to get less. Not good experience. Then Red Hat changed to Fedora and from my standpoint went off to the business world.

From the mags I caught wind of Ubuntu so I started out with Dapper Beta. Great revelation! On some of my computers it "just worked". On my second best computer it "just didn't work" because of X windows support for the LCD monitor (boot crashes). I had a bit of a thrash with my favorite computer until the forums said to check the Bios and set the maximum shared video memory. Then that system "just worked".

So I put Ubuntu Dapper on my laptop with a lot(!) of work resizing XP and even taught a one day exploratory class on Linux. One member of the class has done some work with Linux since however he has tons of all kinds of XP applications. Another member is at least favorably disposed toward Linux. An instructor (Windows XP, Office college level) as much as anything from my "preaching" has tried CD Live Feisty. Amazingly, it "just worked". He was impressed I'm not sure when he may get back to it.

Along comes Feisty Alpha and Beta. For me that was bug finding time and workaround developing with a lot of help from Launchpad. See my post "Workarounds" in "Installation & Upgrades". Lots of fun.

So since I've been doing a bunch of posting where I think I can help newbie's out so they don't get discouraged.

This is "early Gutsy". Some of it works!

Cheers, Jerry

gnomeuser
May 14th, 2007, 08:20 PM
I use and like Fedora, I don't mind Ubuntu and I have run it in the past but I don't think preaching would convert me anymore to Ubuntu than it would to religion. I'd have to have a truly better system available currently I think Fedora has the edge on security and innovation. Also it works much better on my mdraid than Ubuntu does.

Things Ubuntu could do:

* Take a hard stance on freedom (none of that creating a stooge distro crap - let me decide to install those drivers and you invest in developing free alternatives, also make a firm commitment to free Launchpad, say 2 years from now we'll have free Launchpad and we'll work with vendors on adoption of said platform for the common benefit of all of the community)

* Take a hard stance on security (no open ports by default is not an answer anymore, if we want to avoid problems now and in the future we need to take it seriously)

* Fix their miserable support for md/dmraid in the default installer (and make it unbroken in the Feisty final release.. that was just embarrasing)

* Switch to using Tango icons and a non-brown colorscheme by default, this would help make everything feel more unified as apps adopt Tango upstream a lot these days

* Hire someone like David Zeuthen (maintainer: HAL) to be the overall desktop guru, develop a clear vision of where we have issues and commit to working on them (upstream would be good). Look at use cases rather than applications, the Ford analogy of creating a car instead of creating a better horse.

I could go on, most of this isn't really Ubuntu specific, I use what I like because it's what I'm used to. There are areas I care about where my choice shines and others where it royally sucks - just like Ubuntu.

Bakerconspiracy
May 14th, 2007, 08:21 PM
I went to a 10 day computer convention with my window$ laptop, thinking I was hot ****. As soon as I got there, a guy had already broken the server admin's user name and password with the live distro PHLAK (which by the way needs to be revived and picked up [phlak.org (www.phlak.org)]); I had to have it. PHLAK being a distro best used live, his next choice was Ubuntu. I took his advice and had him install it for me. Well, he tried to resize my existing windows installation and broke windows. Since then, (5.10), I have had to use ubuntu.

Pretty crazy though because I remember having the illusion that I was better then most people with computers because I knew a few tricks and tips with the window$ gui. I know a few other people like that, I wonder if window$ deceived me or if I came to believe it by myself...

FyreBrand
May 14th, 2007, 08:37 PM
I wanted a usable Linux OS that also had a reasonable learning curve. (K)Ubuntu is that distribution for me. I had been using Fedora and it just didn't deliver in the end.

My Windows partitions have always been legal, stable, and virus free so that isn't a motivating factor for me. I just like how Linux works, especially Kubuntu. I especially like how easy it is to configure a development environment. If I had to add two other things it would be Fun and Freedom. It's a fun OS to experiment with and I'm free to configure it how I choose. Gotta love that!

use a name
May 14th, 2007, 08:44 PM
I came on my own, but I could have been converted. I have been using linux every now and then but wasn't convinced I could leave Windows behind. With Ubuntu, I could, because of the better package management.

Kvark
May 14th, 2007, 09:24 PM
I tried it on my own but could have been converted.

In my mind Linux was the only choice on servers because it was said to have good security. While Windows was the only choice on desktops because all the desktop programs I knew like MS Office, Photoshop, Nero, mIRC, Trillian and so on worked only on Windows. The only desktop programs I knew worked on Linux where Firefox, Thunderbird and Opera. You need more then a web browser and an email client on a desktop so Linux was not an option. If someone had told me that there are plenty of desktop programs that does work on Linux or showed me with Synaptic it would have made me curious enough to try it sooner.

But if someone would have told me about freedom, open source, that Microsoft is evil(duh, even Windows users know that) or that Linux is supperior then I wouldn't have tried Linux at all. First you show me a supperior product, then after starting to use it I become curious why it's so good, read up on the ideological differences between propriarity and free software and realize how important it is. If you try to explain the ideological differences first I wouldn't have understood and just assumed the product itself doesn't have any selling points of it's own so its not worth trying.

Anthem
May 15th, 2007, 01:34 AM
When the iPod 3G came out, and Apple understood that its iPod was a surprise hit, you could just feel everything change. OSX stopped coming out with cutting-edge features. The website got blanketed with multimedia ads, and the amazing G5 tower only got very brief face time. Then came Boot Camp. Then the switch from the far-superior PPC to an Intel chipset.
Not to get snippy, but are you kidding me? The Core Duo chipset is superior to the G5, and FAR superior to the G4 (since the G5 isn't a portable chip). Apple did the right thing, moving to Intel away from PPC.

Also, the Intel switch happened long before Boot Camp. It would have to.... you're not going to run Windows on a PPC.

B. Gates
May 15th, 2007, 01:43 AM
I came to Ubuntu on my own... then left on my own.

The lack of software I wanted to use, plus the large bulk of software that was almost there but not quite polished enough, irritated me enough to go back to Windows. There's not enough in Linux to make me switch completely.

yatt
May 15th, 2007, 01:57 AM
I had made up my mind that I was going to try Linux. I was torn between SUSE, Yoper, and Debian. Then I saw Ubuntu's shipit, which sealed the deal.

FuturePilot
May 15th, 2007, 02:01 AM
I wasn't converted. I found Ubuntu on my own. Well not completely on my own. I was just going by some blurbs I was hearing about how good Ubuntu was and decided to check it out my self. Ubuntu did the rest and sold itself.:)

Varnel
May 15th, 2007, 03:34 AM
Microsoft & a couple of nudges converted me.

For probably 5 years now I've had several friends on IRC who have been trying to get me to try linux. It didn't work. I meant to, never got around to it. I did run BeOS for a short time, it was an interesting exercise getting away from windows.

Late April I tested a bootleg of Vista Ultimate (offline) on my Opty 165 512m ram. I was horrified at how slow it ran, and that only having solitare & sysmon loaded, my amount of free memory was hovering between 9-12meg. Within 4 hours I reformatted the partition.

At the time I was playing around with VMplayer to work on creating an unattended windows xp disc, and I ended up testing an install of one of the Ubuntu 6 versions... It seemed fairly slick, but I didn't have the guts to install it as a host OS at the time.

A week or two later I ran into this pair of articles on overclockers.com:
http://www.overclockers.com/articles1436/index02.asp ("Ubuntu - Closer To Prime Time?")
http://www.overclockers.com/articles1440/ ("Linux and Countervailing Power")
The Aero vs Beryl video was the final nudge.

I downloaded 7.04, installed it on my laptop (on which my gaming amounts to dosbox). Within 24 hours I installed it on my older desktop. I did try to load the Live-CD on my Opty, but it seems the Uli chipset I am running isn't that well supported--it crashed on bootup (3 times).

Its likely in the name of playing of modern games, my fastest machine will run XP for quite some time.... The rest of them will run Ubuntu. Less then a week in, and I'm sold. MS can keep Vista.

ceelo
May 15th, 2007, 03:41 AM
Came on my own, after having been on Fedora. Reading around it seemed Ubuntu was a much better desktop experience -- and it is. No knock on Fedora, Ubuntu just caters more to the home user. That said, I have moved on because I am more interested on learning more about how the system works now. I am now on Arch Linux, which is very hands-on. I have had to start up my internet connection through a text file, install X manually, install gdm manually, enable sound, optical and storage drive access. A lot of other stuff that's automated in Ubuntu, and it's been really fun.

Nikron
May 15th, 2007, 03:59 AM
I started using Ubuntu on my own after XP, but I got a new laptop and I put Archlinux on it instead. So, I was converted to Linux, just not to Ubuntu =P

Skylara
May 15th, 2007, 09:20 PM
I play World of Warcraft and a fellow gamer in my guild linked to a YouTube comparison video of Feisty w/ Beryl vs. Vista (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC5uEe5OzNQ). I saw the Beryl "cube" and immediately started scouring the Internet for more info about Ubuntu.

This was Wednesday,May 9th. Yes, 6 days ago.

On Saturday, I walked into Borders Books and walked out with The Official Ubuntu Book with the Dapper Live CD. I sat down at my computer at about 11pm Saturday, and, by 5am Sunday morning, I had Ubuntu installed as the lone OS on my gaming PC, upgraded to Edgy, got WoW working great with Wine and finally fell into bed.

When I woke a few hours later, I tweaked some settings then just played around with all the programs that came with it. By the end of the night Sunday, after a 5-hour long raid really showing me how well Ubuntu worked with WoW, I was in love.

I still haven't upgraded to Feisty, nor have I tried out Beryl, the thing that got me looking into Ubuntu in the first place. But I am so happy with the OS.. an OS I NEVER EVEN KNEW EXISTED until I saw that video. Having been a Windows user since 3.1, I'm surprised I came to Ubuntu so easily... but there's so much about it to love.

My favorite thing? The ease of finding and installing programs!

fktt
May 15th, 2007, 09:53 PM
i was converted by my own free will! :lolflag:

handaxe
May 15th, 2007, 10:34 PM
Someone mentioned to me in 2004 that Shuttleworth had a linux distro called ubuntu. I was curious, having tried linux years back and abandoning the attempt as I could not be seamlessly productive and I had no time to tinker. Installing, I quickly saw that I could do just about all I needed in Ubuntu and that ******* could be an occasional dual boot option for interfacing with survey equipment and the like. The Open Source philosophy was hugely attractive and having had misgivings about Redmond for quite some while, (I did IT stuff), so here I am....

HA

WinterWeaver
May 15th, 2007, 10:44 PM
I was working on a Private Creative Commons project, which lead me to the Shuttlewoth Foundation. From there found out about Ubuntu, and thought that it's 'interesting', as I have been bouncing around the linux ball for a bit (mainly red-hat -- nightmares >.<).

3 months later, was scared by what I believe was a hack into my PC, and decided to switch to something more secure. "Well... i guess I'll try out that Ubuntu Linux thing"

^_^ ... I'm still here!!

It would not have been difficult to convert me to Ubuntu, as I have always been open minded, and I'm constantly looking for cost effective and good business solutions.

so I basically converted myself lol

Have fun!

WW

moffatt666
May 15th, 2007, 10:54 PM
After a month of a generally disatisfactory experience with Mandriva, I thought "bugger this, I'm trying something else." I came. I saw. I liked.

fueg0
May 16th, 2007, 02:54 AM
-- I am an Ubuntu convert

I looked for a really long time, at the various major distros, and finally decided that Ubuntu was right for me. I considered Novell, but considering their ties to Micro$haft, and the reputation as a resource hog, I avoided Novell like the plague. I had Vista on this box (talk about a resource hog), and I didn't want this machine to be running an o/s that would hamper performance.

I LOVE the desktop effects, and the only issue I had at first, was getting my e1405 display running natively @ 1440x900. 802.11x, bluetooth, soundcard, etc., all worked right off the bat. PROPS to the team who developed Feisty...

I've tried Red Hat, Mandrake, SuSE, Slackware, and a few others, but I kept coming back to Feisty.... this is a really cool o/s

--fueg0

^rooker
May 17th, 2007, 08:29 AM
Ubuntu was the first distro I saw that even my mother could handle - I've been using Linux for years on servers (console only, no GUI) and I always wanted it to be my main system, too.

...but unfortunately the proprietary software/hardware vendors have done their homework - and I guess that is still the hardest thing for GNU/Linux to deal with.

Before I knew what was going on "out there", I was happy with Windows and all my copies of super-expensive software (e.g.: Nowadays, Photoshop is considered to be *the* only graphic manipulation program - even if people would only need gthumb) ...
Just until I found out that a lot of things lock you in - take away your freedom - cause artificial barriers - and endanger my life as a person who loves to play Lego (=build new things, rather than using what you're being fed).

Awareness of this is probably what's causing the "religious" part of the free software community: You just cannot "convert" your OS for yourself - because you will find out pretty soon that you've started to become "incompatible" with the rest of the world.

And now the process of "explaining why *their* world is wrong - not mine!" starts...
Difficult in all cases:
- Power-users hate it when they don't know something. So they start arguing (on a technical level) about stuff they have no clue about.
- "My-Mom"-users simply don't care *why* things don't work - and they're growing tired if you start explaining. Even if they got the point and agree with you, they just answer: "And why exactly should I care?"

That's why I like to tell easy-to-digest stories (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=354562) (probably the reason why religions use them, too? damn. I hate preaching.)

A lot users simply do not care what OS or programs they're running - as long as it works for them. In the current situation, this is simply not the case when installing GNU/Linux on their systems - They become scared, because of the difference - and they will panic and start to hate "your" OS, because they cannot use their super-proprietary-closed-secret-whatsoever by simply plugging it in.
(Not to mention hours of explanations *why* it cannot play MP3s out of the box...)

So it's not about converting, it's about awareness - People simply DO NOT KNOW that they are currently slowly chained up by greedy vendors.

Considering the amount of people around me complaining about copy-protections (yes, they *all* want to copy/rip their CDs, DVDs, programs, etc...) and daily law-breaking actions as the "default/normal" case (e.g. People are so convinced that .doc is a standard, they don't even know that they're running a pirated copy. They even shout at you if you're telling them that they should consider alternatives, since they could not even afford to buy it if they wanted to!)



Damn. I'm just not able to say things in a single sentence....

^rooker
May 17th, 2007, 08:42 AM
Here's the important part:

The only way of living in peace, using only free software is: using it. Especially if you're good with computers. This is the only way to gain knowledge to help development and support of free (free as in speech) things!
...and then you can make it possible for non-geeks to join your world, too! (like helping here in the forums)

Spr0k3t
May 17th, 2007, 08:46 AM
I came to Ubuntu on my own... and I'm still here.

ADT
May 17th, 2007, 12:19 PM
I first heard about and used GNU/linux (Red Hat) in college about three years ago.
We did a Unix C programming module. I didn't like it because we had to use vi and I didn't have a clue about C programming.

I installed ubuntu about two years ago on my laptop but accidently deleted windows. All I did was play tetris while I waited for a friend of mine to burn me a pirated copy of windows XP pro.

My laptop died last year and all I was left with was a Pentium 3 with 192 MB of RAM.
Windows XP performance was laggy on it so I decided to try ubuntu again.
So a performance issue was the major reason I made the switch.
I've been using GNU/linux exclusively since (Archlinux and xubuntu at the moment).

AlanRogers
May 17th, 2007, 12:31 PM
I've posted this before but, in short, I am uncomfortable with the way that Microsoft appear to be creating a market for their first new operating system in five years and, with it, a spike in hardware sales because, simply put, the majority of hardware in users' hands at the moment plain won't run Vista.

As such, I felt a need to explore a potential solution to this perceived problem and I knew of Linux already. I'd dismissed Apple Mac on the basis that the hardware is expensive - this was before I knew Mac OSX would run on Intel machines.

Asking those that I already knew used *nix, three distros were suggested; Mandriva, Freespire and Ubuntu. I've briefly tried all three but stuck with Ubuntu, mainly because of this forum but I do find Ubuntu more intuitive that the other distros listed. Kubuntu is more customisable and Xunbuntu is faster but I have a preference for the Gnome interface.

Whether I'm ever ready to comfortable recommend Ubuntu to other users, and accept the support burden that this implies, remains to be seen. Before this last point is argued too vehemently, I run my own support operation for home workers and small businesses. Therefore, to recommend anything that I cannot comfortably support is dangerous, regardless of what I tell them from the get-go!

Eddie Wilson
May 17th, 2007, 01:03 PM
I have a strange story on how I came to discover linux. I was on the net one day checking out the new microsoft os named Longhorn. What I was really trying to do was find a place from where I could download it. I did find an iso which said ms longhorn beta. I downloaded it, burnt it and rebooted the computer. It was knoppix. I was amazed at this new operating system. I got to searching and someone said to try Xandros. I did and I liked it. I went to my isp and asked if he knew how easy it would be to go online with linux. He helped set me up with no problems. Then he gave me an Ubuntu 5.10 disk. Thats how I first discovered Ubuntu. I liked it a lot better than Xandrox, which I throught was also good, and I've been using it as my main system since then. I also use Mepis for a kde fix when I need it. So I guess you could say that I was converted to linux and then Ubuntu by accident.
Eddie

raymac46
May 17th, 2007, 02:54 PM
I had this old Dell desktop running Windows Me (badly) and I was complaining in another forum about how it wasn't worth buying a copy of XP and upgrading. A friend there suggested I try Linux. She's a Slackware aficiando.
At that time I didn't know about downloads and ISOs so I just asked at a local computer store if they had a copy of Linux available.
The owner gave me a copy of Ubuntu 5.10. I tried the live CD and liked the look of Gnome and the Ubuntu color scheme. I installed it, then had lots of fun configuring a wireless PCI card. Luckily I did my research and got one that worked.
Now I'm on to Feisty and I still like Ubuntu the best of all distros I've tried.

Shay Stephens
May 21st, 2007, 05:54 PM
Before the news hit me about the upcoming (at the time) vista, I was interested in hobby stuff and a lot of hobby tools are linux based. So I had in mind to load an old laptop with linux and use that as my shop computer.

I never really acted on that as I got busy and hobby stuff took a back seat. But then the news about what vista was hit my universe. It was at that time that I shifted gears and decided that I would make the effort to make a complete switch to linux and not just the contemplated double OS world.

I had experimented with red hat in the past. I had purchased the boxed version of red hat 6.something. But was never totally successful getting it to run properly. So I went to download the latest version and found out things had changed and now it was fedora something. So I got that and still things were not really working. Went through half a dozen distros until I heard about ubuntu. Sounded good and it worked.

After about a year I was fully converted over to ubuntu linux from having been deeply entrenched in the microsoft world since 1994ish (I even have a worthless MCSE).

Could I have been converted...yes. But no one I knew was using linux at the time. But since then I have converted my wife, parents, and I am still working on my brother in law. I let anyone who cares to know the hows and whys of why I switched and why they may want to also.

ThinkBuntu
May 21st, 2007, 06:03 PM
By the way, I'm now a re-re-re-convert. Feisty's back on my machine, with the entire Studio suite installed as well as the option to boot in the low-latency kernel.

earobinson
May 21st, 2007, 06:05 PM
I came to linux first, then a user showed me ubuntu.

JenniferE
May 21st, 2007, 06:49 PM
I was converted. My BF raved about Linux and then one night, he installed a dual boot , (Windows / Ubuntu), on my computer while I was sleeping. He then would try to encourage me to play around in Ubuntu. Then later, tried to encourage me to use Ubuntu full-time. However, I don't adapt to change very well. I'm a creature of habit.

Then a virus slipped through the cracks and wreaked havoc on my system one night as I slept. Woke up the next morning to a complete nightmare. From that moment on, Windows was gone and it's been Ubuntu ever since.

earobinson
May 21st, 2007, 07:13 PM
I was converted. My BF raved about Linux and then one night, he installed a dual boot , (Windows / Ubuntu), on my computer while I was sleeping. He then would try to encourage me to play around in Ubuntu. Then later, tried to encourage me to use Ubuntu full-time. However, I don't adapt to change very well. I'm a creature of habit.

Then a virus slipped through the cracks and wreaked havoc on my system one night as I slept. Woke up the next morning to a complete nightmare. From that moment on, Windows was gone and it's been Ubuntu ever since.
Converted through disaster, hope you at least had your impotent data backed up!

Erik Trybom
May 21st, 2007, 07:58 PM
I wasn't converted - I came by myself. Ubuntu wasn't the first distribution I tried but it was the first to work well enough for me to keep using. Earlier I always went back to Windows because I got stuck when I tried something basic (like installing an application or getting the mouse to work). With Breezy, those things worked or were easy to fix. The nice community helped as well.

However, I wouldn't say that I couldn't be converted. It's just that I'm the only one I know who actually runs Linux.

Dr. C
May 22nd, 2007, 01:23 AM
I was converted to Ubuntu by Microsoft Corporation

I have been a user of Microsoft Software for over 25 years since the days of the original IBM PC and have Windows since Windows 3.0. I was also an early adopter of Windows NT with Windows NT 3.1, 3.5, 3.51. 4.0 (I still run Windows NT 4.0 today) etc. Windows NT did a great job of running Windows 3.xx application in fact better much than Windows 3.1 or 3.11 or 95, except for those applications that had DRM in them (It was called copy protection in those days) that would not work at all. It is then thanks to my early adoption of Windows NT that I developed a strong loathing for software that has DRM in it.

In the 1990's one could avoid DRM by staying loyal to Microsoft, seriously, but with the turn of the Millennium Microsoft has really started to see the dark side. First it is product activation in Windows XP, and it has gotten a lot lot worse since then, and is still getting worse. Even worse many propriety software vendors are following Microsoft's lead and adding different and in some times even conflicting DRM's of their own. A support and maintenance nightmare.

My first response was to not upgrade stayed with Windows 98, Office 97 etc, for years. I did upgrade to XP Pro and I liked it except for one thing DRM (product activation). I then started looking at alternatives which meant various GNU/Linux Distributions, Debian, Linspire, Open SUSE, Fedora and Ubuntu. I had been using GNU/Linux on servers before since 2000 but did not consider GNU/Linux as a desktop OS. In early 2006 I downloaded Breezy to learn the desktop. I then moved my desktop to Dapper last summer and my Laptop to Edgy last fall. Now both are Feisty, and have loved it.

Yes I still keep Windows around to run my legacy applications and for nostalgia reasons, XP Pro in VMware, NT4 on an old P200 MMX and even MS DOS 6.22 / Windows 3.1 on an old 286. but the future to me is FLOSS. I am planning on getting a new system and it will be running Ubuntu.

zvacet
May 22nd, 2007, 10:39 PM
I used Xp and get filling that I lose fight against all kind of maleware,and I start surf the web to find some replacemant.I found lot of articles about Linux and I didnīt understand anything they say.Debian based, Red Het based, deb files,rpm files,so many so caled distroīs.At that time nothing have any sense to me.Breakpoint was when my IP sad to me that they donīt support linux.My first reaction was:˝Nobody will tell me wich OS I will use.˝I decided to install linux no matter what.I have to tell you that my computer knowlage was poor (maybe improved as times goes by).I surfed web again,looking for distro,and find out that I never read bad review about Ubuntu,and it was(still is)single CD.I can say I was lucky,because download,burn and install went O.K.When I first time started Ubuntu I was confused.I didnīt know what to do,how to connect to internet and so on...but still it feels like fun and i decided to stick with it for some time.it was year ago and i still have fun runing Ubuntu,and i donīt have XP anymore.Thanks everyone on this forum for help and thanks to my IP who doesnīt support linux.

Happy_Man
May 22nd, 2007, 11:36 PM
Hmm... well, a friend of mine was talking to me about Linux, said he had Ubuntu, if I wanted, why not try it out?

My computer, at the time, was running Windows XP Home. It was decent when we bought it back in the Dark Ages, 256 MB of RAM, Nvidia Geforce gfx card, PIV, etc. A decent box. Now, of course, after about five or so years of heavy usage, it was slowed to a crawl. So, when I heard that Linux could make slow comps fast, I decided to try it out. Went onto ubuntu.com, looked up how to burn an .iso, installed the Infra Recorder app, and I haven't looked back. INcidentally, looking back, I think Infra Recorder was the last thing I installed for Windows.

Wow, it's been a while. Almost six months. Now, some of you decades-old people may laugh, and ask how I could think that's a long time. Yeah, well, I'm only a decade-and-a-half old, so half a year is like forever. I mean, half a year ago, the iPhone didn't exist! *shudders*

AndyCooll
May 22nd, 2007, 11:43 PM
I found Linux myself, however I think I possibly could have been converted ...provided someone talked to me at just the right time.

Having used pirated software for years (including the OS) I got to a stage where I was looking for free software. My conscience had got the better of me and I wanted to go legit. Problem was I had quite a few boxes and simply couldn't afford the expense. At that stage, if I hadn't found Linux myself I possibly could have been converted.

Anyway I started off with Fedora Core, and that was generally fine. However I had problems with getting NFS shares to work. These days I wonder how I ever could have struggled ...but I did. I can't remember exactly why I decided to give Ubuntu a try, but I do remember the fact just about everything worked out-of-the-box, including those NFS shares.
I started off dual-booting my main box, but pretty quickly found I wasn't using XP. A year and a half ago I removed XP and haven't looked back since. I currently have a file server, a fast box, and two pretty old laptops all happily running Ubuntu.

One of those old laptops my missus uses. Yes, I've even converted her over! She has just the "usual" basic knowledge of computers requiring it for the Internet, e-mail, IM chat, music and the basic office suite purposes. And she happily does all that in Ubuntu.

:cool:

ZeroXR
May 23rd, 2007, 12:27 AM
It seems many have converted from another operating system to Linux on their own!

Like many I dabbled in FreeBSD and Linux before making a dive. FreeBSD (circa 1999) overwhelmed me, as the use of the command line freaked me out. I later bought SuSe 9.2 Professional Edition from a second-hand bookstore in new condition with all the reference books, CD, floppy diskette, and even DVD versions of the install. Suse wasn't too friendly to install and at the time (circa 2000) I couldn't figure out how to get broadband working on my computer. I gave Linux another shot and tried Slackware, but the community wasn't the nicest out there when I was having trouble with things. I simply just gave up on Linux and continued on XP.

Like AndyCooll was mentioning, I too was a pirating closed source user and I finally grew a conscious. In addition, Like Aysiu, I had gotten sick of the spyware and even more so from being the family's computer technician from having to do extensive repairs from spyware, malware, or virus damage. I finally had the last straw with Windows... The story is detailed in my first post on my blog: http://zeroxr.vox.com/

After discovering Ubuntu, I fell in love to the point that I was brave enough to let go of Windows and destroy my entire partition without a second thought. I have never looked back... The only thing I miss are games, but I don't have much time in life for those. The stability, security, and configurability has been great! I have come to respect Ubuntu a lot higher as the community is top notch!

I agree with the other remarks that trying to push their particular distro of Linux in a religious zealot manner really pushes many potential users away. With Ubuntu, there wasn't a focus of "Use our distro because we are the strongest in <insert focused strength here>". It was more the "Humanity towards Others" philosophy that sold me and even more so when I browsed the forums and saw the philosophy being demonstrated.

roachk71
May 23rd, 2007, 12:45 AM
Actually, I didn't need too much convincing: Windows had already gotten on my nerves too much, and I'd experimented with several distributions before Ubuntu.

orb9220
May 23rd, 2007, 02:38 AM
Well for me it all started one night when I was sleeping. All of a sudden I was awakened as hands held me
down and I opened my eyes to see the Tele-Tubbies leering down. They told me to be still as they inserted
a device into my head then there was a flash and they were gone.

The next night while I was sleeping a vision of a red-headed Goddess engulfed in flames with strange orange and blue symbols floating above her head. So the next day I research the symbols on google and found that they belong to a group known as the “Ubuntuians”.

I downloaded the sacred .iso and “Burned It!” and now had in my hands “Mine! Yes!,Yes! My Precious!”.

Then I went thru the ritual of Grub and failed. I cried myself to sleep knowing I was so close to achieving
my stateful bliss. She being the “Goddess Ubuntu” came to me again in my dreams told me to reach enlightenment that I would need to offer a sacrifice to reach the next plateau.

So I grabbed my Illegal copy of XP Pro SP2 slipstream. I then burned it in the “Bowl of Ubuntu” reciting
the appropriate incantations. And again went to the “Console of Truth” and uncovered the hidden secrets and incantations to reach enlightenment and Lo and Behold it came to be.

“I Am Now A Ubuntuian!” All Hail! the Ori! cough,cough I mean the “Goddess Ubuntu!”

Nah Just kidding. It is great to use and be free of the shackles of Microsoft, But there is still much to be done. I still have to use xp for graphics and video work which is still in a immature state as far as my needs. It is getting there and I'll be glad when I can achieve more than my present 80-90% ubuntu use.

“All Hail! the Ori cough,cough I mean Ubuntu!”

Pikestaff
May 23rd, 2007, 05:19 AM
I voted "other" because I think I was "sort of" converted... no one person converted me to Ubuntu, it was largely a combination of discovering Open Source and wanting to learn more about, and get more out of, my computer. But, there were people that helped to sort of nudge me in the direction of Ubuntu, largely unknowingly. It was my boyfriend who recommended Ubuntu to me as a distro (though ironically, he's yet to make the full switch from Windows :p ) and I had a few friends who installed Ubuntu and nonchalantly mentioned it and showed it to me (ironically, again, I'm now the only one using it among my group of friends!) and that really got me wanting it because I liked what I saw.

So I would say it was a group effort for me. I don't think one person could have showed up and convinced me to use Ubuntu, at least not until very recently... if you'd told me a year ago I'd be using Linux today I'd probably have laughed at you and said "Yeah I wish". I think I had to start getting interested in it on my own first, and then sort of have other people show it to me some more, to finally decide to make the switch.

skillllllz
May 23rd, 2007, 06:39 AM
...The best pitch is "try it and see." That or "Dad, I'm fixing your windows installation this weekend."

Haha, that is exactly what I told my father before I set him up with Ubuntu. He was ready to buy a new machine because Win XP became unusably slow, thanks to the need to run antivirus, anti-spyware, and a software firewall. I knew some things might not work right away in Ubuntu, so I also installed VMware Player and used VMware Converter to convert his existing XP into a VM (after cleaning it up and removing unnecessary apps). It took a few weeks for him to get fully oriented, but he had no choice and now he loves it. He still uses the XP VM here and there for one thing, which there is no alternative for, yet. So, in essence, one could say I converted him, by force. :D

As for myself, I had dabbled with Linux on & off from the late 90's through 2006. I was always as intimidated by it as much as I was intrigued by it. I never saw myself being able to truly dive in and use it full time, as I was a really hardcore Windows user. Then one day last year, a colleague mentioned Ubuntu and praised it a bit; this happened to come at a time when I was not very thrilled about the direction(s) Microsoft was going, particularly with Vista. So, I took the opportunity to plunge and fell in love instantly. Now, I refuse to go back to MS for anything, as it makes no sense; I've found FOSS replacements for everything I need.

slimdog360
May 23rd, 2007, 07:43 AM
I wanted to try linux for a long time but never had the know how to get into it. To be honest, the first time I saw ubuntu I thought it was a bit dodgy, but I gave it a try anyway. This is after a couple of other distros which I didn't like. Mandrivia was the first, but when I saw it, it was not at all like I expected. I was hoping for it to be geekier then it was, which is why I jumped ships at the time.

This was about a year and a half ago though, so there was next to nothing to be found on it for most people. Now a days linux distros are in magazines all the time so its so much easier, if only I had waited another 6-12 months.

lucas42
May 28th, 2007, 11:59 PM
I was planning to buy a computer and knew from the start that I didn't want to run windows. I was originally going to buy a mac, but then found out that I could buy a normal pc and run linux on it. I had a look at a few distros and thought debian looked good at the time. I didn't install immediately because my laptop kept breaking down, and I thought that a new OS might void my warantee. Then someone at uni gave a ubuntu liveCD, saying that it based on debian, but updated more often. I installed it one night after one in a long line of useless telephone calls with the company I bought my computer from. I've tried some other distros, but they required alot more work, so I'm sticking with ubuntu for the time being (well kubuntu, which I've been using since i got fiesty).

k1001001
May 29th, 2007, 12:15 AM
Windows crashed on my computer. Rather than have a dead computer, a Linux guru in my dorm recovered my files, reformatted the drive, and installed Ubuntu on my computer. We tried to dual boot, but I didn't have a key for XP, so now I have a completely Ubuntu computer.

I'm happy with it for the most part. I know how to do about 99% of things that I want or need to do. I think I'll be much happier when I get a new computer with XP though. Even then, I'll probably set up a dual boot and primarily use Ubuntu. There's just some things (recording and gaming mainly) that Ubuntu/Linux just does not cover well when compared to Windows. Also, this computer has seen better days and it's high time for a new one.

sunexplodes
May 29th, 2007, 04:09 AM
I suppose I converted myself. It makes sense, looking back. For years, as a Windows user, I replaced the shell with LiteStep themes that closely resembled openbox or gnome desktops. I hated having to so rigorously protect my computer from malicious code, and all the usual stuff. I downloaded the now-defunct Corel Linux when I was a teenager, but I never made it through the install process.

Years later, when Dapper was released and gaining so much hype, I burned a copy of it, but never got around to installing it until my XP machine crashed hard, and I was faced with the decision to re-install Windows, or give Ubuntu a try.

I've been using it ever since. And one of my roommates was converted just by playing around with my machine and seeing how nice it was. A couple of our friends have asked me if I'd help them set it up on their machines, too.

runningwithscissors
May 29th, 2007, 12:13 PM
Perhaps. I have a deep seated hatred and mistrust for corporations and businesses. Installing an alternative OS that is free doesn't seem like too much of a risk, so I would definitely have tried it and probably "converted" too. In fact, I tried Redhat 6.0 back in 1999 of my own accord and tried very hard to persist with it.

But, as it goes, I ran into Gentoo when I was actively looking for an suitable Linux distro to try and have been running it ever since I discovered it. :D

moredhel
May 29th, 2007, 12:53 PM
I was converted the moment I saw amarok xD

It truely does own the audio player software market :D

Though I also would of converted by synaptic - easy installation of so many programs, and all updated, what a great idea ;)

davecambs
May 29th, 2007, 02:19 PM
I came to Ubuntu (via experimenting with Slackware and Fedora) because I'm not a big microsoft fan, I am converting my son now. I got fed up spending so much time cleaning up spyware on his XP install that I locked it down so much that now he can't play his games via the web with his mates. He obviously is not happy about this so I'm going to install Ubuntu on a partition for him for web use. Unfortunatley I need to keep his XP partition active so he can play his PC games. I think for Linux to be truly a serious desktop for the masses it needs to put pressure on game developers to make Linux compatible versions of their software. I understand Wine can help but cannot run everything.

lyceum
May 29th, 2007, 05:07 PM
I was a HUGE MS fanboy. I had a friend trying to get me to check out FOSS, but I thought if it was really that good everyone would be using it. When I desided to go back to school for webdesign I wanted a Mac, but could not afford one. I was using Firefox by now, but that was it. When I bought my first webspace I was offered Linux or Windows, and got Windows access (which cost more), as I had Windows.. I really wanted to learn a new OS and was worried that I might have to use Linux at some point (as it was cheaper webspace). When I saw some screenshots of Gentoo I fell in love. I tried every distro on OSDir.com but kept coming back to Kubuntu (I thought Ubuntu was too ugly). After realizing I did not like KDE I tried Ubuntu. The rest is history.

aysiu
May 29th, 2007, 05:19 PM
What an interesting story, lyceum. Thanks for sharing!

hellmet
May 29th, 2007, 07:08 PM
I came of my own too..!!! The first time I tried Linux, it was way back in ..uh.. well 2004. I tried RHL. I was so new to it, and the lack of an internet connection, frustrated the hell out of me, as I couldn't understand one bit of it. I just removed it. Then again in 2006, I was just gettin fk bored of life, and I wanted to try out new things..with computers.. I read about Linux a bit, and researched as to which distro was like what, when I got to Ubuntu. I saw somewhere that ubuntu gave away free cds.. I wanted to see if this was true. In a few weeks, my cds arrived much to my surprise. Being a geek, installation was never a problem. It was a pretty steep learning curve, but I managed thru it, and I'm glad I did that..

bchaffin72
May 29th, 2007, 09:17 PM
I was not converted. I was simply looking to replace my rapidly aging Mandrake Linux 8.1 installation. I was going to replace it with Mandriva 2006, since I knew the Mandrake portion fairly well. My DVD drive failed before I could install, so I had to replace it with a CD-ROM. Since CD-ROM obviously will not read DVD, I looked at CD based distros and kept hearing about Ubuntu. I liked what I read, ordered a copy of Edgy via ShipIt, and didn't look back. I just recently updated to Fiesty, and am well satisfied with the choice.