yay, a victory for open source

[barbedsaber]

My vista using no idea how to use a computer friend called me.

He said that he was going to buy xp.
I asked why, and he said it was because vista had no office suite. I informed him that no windows would have an office suite that would come with it and Microsoft office would cost them about $200, and suddenly my tux-o-meter blipped, and I quickly added that I could give him a free equivalent called open office. the line went silent, and then I heard him talking with his parents (they have a phone that picks up things like that) he said that office didn't come with xp and that they would have to pay $200 bucks extra for it. then He mentioned that they could get "the same thing for free" they asked if it was legal, so He asked me. "is it pirated?" and I explained that it wasn't pirated, it was free, it was released under a free license. The line went silent, for a bit, and he asked if it could do all the same things as office. and then some was my reply. Well, having never seen anything free in there lives, they were a bit skeptical, "but wont it crash all the time?" not, "wont it have a time limit for until you have to pay?" no "are you sure its legal?" yes "and your sure is does everything that Microsoft office does" yep. Finally they agreed to try it, so I downloaded it, and was about to install it on there computer, when they called there computer technician neighbor, and got him to double check that it wasn't harmful. he came over and I asked him to explain that open office was fine, and he told them that is was VERY reliable, and that he had used it for years and years, it was great. I got the all clear, installed it and set it to automatically save in the Microsoft file format, and then copied the shortcuts to writer, calc, and impress onto their desktop. They love there computer now, because it actually does something that they want it to do.

now they just have to get rid of the viruses and malware they have, and get their printer drivers set up, and it will be ready for daily use :)

[agim]

Great story. I have a lot of friends and family started to use free software.

I was amazed the other day, I have not been a computer user for long, and a friend was complaining about only having 9 uses on word left. She also said that everytime she uses it, the computer inevitably freezes so it took 2 or 3 of her uses away.

I told her about Abiword, said it was small, and it was worth a try. I said it might save her 20 bucks or so.

She said yeah, try 200! I couldn't believe it. She is now an free software enthusiast. Its funny, when a non-geek starts using it, everyone else realizes its safe and easy to use, and often better than the alternate.!

Now, my 15 year old sister uses Firefox, Opera, OOo and Pidgin and her friends are starting to download these things too!

[argraff]

Well done! I'm working on moving a non-profit to Ubuntu and OOO is part of that. I hope I have the same luck!

[barbedsaber]

as soon as you say free, there ears prick up.

[DoctorMO]

as soon as you say free, there ears prick up.

Yes but it also makes people sceptical, you don't get anything for free in this world (so we are told over and over) well except paved roads, public schools, water pipes, power lines and maybe a police man or two. Oh wait we're not allowed to be socialist and have the good of society at heart? pft. social good is free to socity otherwise it wouldn't be so good.

[jcwmoore]

Three years ago I started with OOo, I liked it and I never looked back. Now i'm full FOSS, using ubuntu, firefox, OOo, Apache, MySQL, FreeCiv, etc. I would not be where I am today if I didn't think that OOo wasn't the near equal of office. I know today that office 07 is one step ahead, but I think after OOo version 3.0 comes of, FOSS will be ahead and never looking back....

[barbedsaber]

office 07 is pretty, and oh so shiny, but I am never going back..
shiny, shiny.

I have to rinse my mouth out now (so shiny) then I will flip some cubes for a while.

so shiny.

[zmjjmz]

Not open-source but still an alternative thingy success story :P

My mom's IE got really slow, buggy, and crashtastic so I switched her to Opera.
Good thing: She mostly uses a Word Processor, a Web Browser, and an E-Mail Client.
I'm going to soon convince her to use Evolution (on a different computer), and now that she uses Opera instead of IE, and I already installed OOo (she has yet to use it =_=), she has very few reasons not to switch to Linux.
Especially with the ies4linux.

[agim]

Hilarious post barbedsaber.

[barbedsaber]

Hilarious post barbedsaber.

Thanks

[HermanAB]

Microsoft actually has lots of free software:
Outlook Express, Internet Explorer, Messenger, Media Player and others.

Those are all free, but not open source and as for quality... I guess that is why people are scared of free software.

[Martje_001]

Those are all free, but not open source and as for quality... I guess that is why people are scared of free software.
There are NOT free. Have you ever thought about the fact, that you must have a valid windows license for these programs to use?

[Liet_Kynes]

Yes but it also makes people sceptical, you don't get anything for free in this world (so we are told over and over) well except paved roads, public schools, water pipes, power lines and maybe a police man or two. ....

:( Taxes :(

[NightwishFan]

I used to enjoy Windows Vista. I thought well everyone I know uses Xp so it's good to have something new. I was thinking, hmm with Ultimate I can get security I won't use. A movie desktop that is supposed to be light on cpu. Heh, like Vista? Well at any rate I got home premium and the works. Office, some games, and Sony Vegas 7. Enough to make the Starcraft vods I used to do. Well after a while I began to notice even with my pretty good windows experience, constant defrags, something was wrong. One day I noticed something was out of place. programs refused to load. The os booted slowly, with .dll errors. I noticed the problem immediately when I went on my little sister's user I made for her when she came over. I could access my user folder. Which she should need my password to do. She was annoyed at how I wouldn't let her install some stuff, so she turned off the user account control, somehow she must have got my password.

Let me tell you, on Vista, do not do this. It seems to save the configurations on how everything is installed or something. The only option was to do a fresh install of the computer. That meant my office license, my Sony Vegas license, and so on. I reinstalled, sadly but had to restore alternatives to those applications with freeware. Free = bugs and spyware. So I was forced to do another reboot and this time I used free open source software. It got me thinking. If I am only using free open source software, why not just switch to a foss os? I used linux in the past but did not keep it because of the lack of gaming. Since I quit the Starcraft scene (I found a more mature lifestyle I suppose). I found the most common used Linux distro and installed. It was simple to dual boot with Vista.

Ubuntu came installed with most of the stuff I needed. As an avid Nightwish fan, I ripped all my CD's to flac. Rhythmbox plays them. My End of an Era and random anime dvds all play in VLC. (Yes I watch anime. :) )

Even when I tried Starcraft it worked in Wine and I could even still play LAN on Hamachi with a few of my old friends from TeamLiquid.net. I realized. Now I own this OS. I am not forced to use my os anyway but mine. The rebel factor itself is worth the switch. Anytime I have a friend ask me, "Whoa, that Vista theme looks great." I smile. OSS is a way of life for me now and I am glad I am a part of this community.

[barbedsaber]

great news, I recently converted one of my windows-fanboy friends from Internet explorer to fire fox, yippe.

He says its much faster, and is looking through the add ons now.

[johndc]

office 07 is pretty, and oh so shiny, but I am never going back..

agreed. whenever I see a "shiny" interface, the first thing that pops in to my head is "waste of resources". but that's probably because I've been using the same computer for 8 years (which means I haven't had adequate resources for 5 years). hell, i just got pixel shaders.

[sailor2001]

In my computer group of about 30 senior citizens, I'm the only linux user full time. However have managed to move almost all of them to firefox and thunderbird...also open office.. Surprising enough they all are afraid of going 100% to linux.. Guess it's an age thing.....no spirit of adventure left..

[tdrusk]

In my computer group of about 30 senior citizens, I'm the only linux user full time. However have managed to move almost all of them to firefox and thunderbird...also open office.. Surprising enough they all are afraid of going 100% to linux.. Guess it's an age thing.....no spirit of adventure left..

You are awesome.:guitar:

[Bartender]

Guess it's an age thing.....no spirit of adventure left..

We try to help an older couple we know with their recurring computer problems. They're on dial-up. I've installed Thunderbird and it's all configured. I keep telling them to stop using Hotmail fer cryin out loud. If for no other reason then it doesn't make any sense to have to go online and wade thru the ads just to look at the mail again.

I regularly spar with the husband - "Linux is better, faster, safer, you wouldn't be dragging the PC down to the shop for virus-cleaning anymore" etc.

He says that Windows must be safer because it comes from a big corporation whereas Linux is free and who knows who's behind the product??

What do you say to that? He's deaf so he wins the argument by turning away :)

[DeadSuperHero]

As a common practice in my family, whenever they have me re-install Windows for them, I put Firefox, OO.o, GIMP, and Pidgin all on their comps, and they love it. I'm still working on converting my dad, but that's a bit problematic because he uses MS Office on a day-to-day basis, and regularly uses formula macros, so switching might not be an option for him.
But hey, my mom and brothers all use it to some extent, and we're all happy. I'm currently the only Linux user in the family, but we're all for Open Source/Free Software.

[v.cube]

My vista using no idea how to use a computer friend called me.

He said that he was going to buy xp.
I asked why, and he said it was because vista had no office suite. I informed him that no windows would have an office suite that would come with it and Microsoft office would cost them about $200, and suddenly my tux-o-meter blipped, and I quickly added that I could give him a free equivalent called open office. the line went silent, and then I heard him talking with his parents (they have a phone that picks up things like that) he said that office didn't come with xp and that they would have to pay $200 bucks extra for it. then He mentioned that they could get "the same thing for free" they asked if it was legal, so He asked me. "is it pirated?" and I explained that it wasn't pirated, it was free, it was released under a free license. The line went silent, for a bit, and he asked if it could do all the same things as office. and then some was my reply. Well, having never seen anything free in there lives, they were a bit skeptical, "but wont it crash all the time?" not, "wont it have a time limit for until you have to pay?" no "are you sure its legal?" yes "and your sure is does everything that Microsoft office does" yep. Finally they agreed to try it, so I downloaded it, and was about to install it on there computer, when they called there computer technician neighbor, and got him to double check that it wasn't harmful. he came over and I asked him to explain that open office was fine, and he told them that is was VERY reliable, and that he had used it for years and years, it was great. I got the all clear, installed it and set it to automatically save in the Microsoft file format, and then copied the shortcuts to writer, calc, and impress onto their desktop. They love there computer now, because it actually does something that they want it to do.

now they just have to get rid of the viruses and malware they have, and get their printer drivers set up, and it will be ready for daily use :)

AWESOME post, man.

[Washer]

Well, having never seen anything free in there lives, they were a bit skeptical, "but wont it crash all the time?" not, "wont it have a time limit for until you have to pay?" no "are you sure its legal?" yes "and your sure is does everything that Microsoft office does" yep. Finally they agreed to try it, so I downloaded it, and was about to install it on there computer, when they called there computer technician neighbor, and got him to double check that it wasn't harmful. he came over and I asked him to explain that open office was fine, and he told them that is was VERY reliable, and that he had used it for years and years, it was great. I would take that as an insult. I'd think "What, you think I'm lying to you"? You guys are pretty much doing charity work & you shouldn't have to take that from anyone.

[JT9161]

I've already got my parents using Firefox and am trying to get them to make the switch to Ubuntu. I've got Ubuntu on my sister's comp. but she's not gonna be home till next month so not sure how thats going to go.

[fredfjr]

Yes but it also makes people sceptical, you don't get anything for free in this world (so we are told over and over) well except paved roads, public schools, water pipes, power lines and maybe a police man or two. Oh wait we're not allowed to be socialist and have the good of society at heart? pft. social good is free to socity otherwise it wouldn't be so good.

Well, technically those things aren't free either as they're paid for by the taxes you pay.

Back on topic...

I'm slowly making headway towards open source with my family. My parents both use Firefox, Thunderbird, and Open Office. I try to be careful on what I recommend to them so they aren't overwhelmed with things. Someday I may recommend Ubuntu or the like...

[barbedsaber]

great news, I recently converted one of my windows-fanboy friends from Internet explorer to fire fox, yippe.

He says its much faster, and is looking through the add ons now.


UPDATE:
my now firefox loving friend has been talking about his new web browser a lot, now this is a guy that thinks of his computer as an appliance, so that is a pretty big thing. I mean, when was the last time you said "I got this AWSOME new toaster on the weekend, you should really get one the same, it will rock your world!" my point is, some of my other friends are taking intrest as well, and I think if I play my cards right, I could get them all swapped over within a week, one of them even asked me where the download site was.

Also, I overheard one of the guys that I gave a gutsy live cd to, talking to one of his friends, and sure this other guy will never use linux, but he did comment that it sounded awsome, he was a bit sick of windows, freedom sounded good, but if it couldnt play ALL his favourite games, he was staying right where he was, oh well, maybe I should explain dual boots to him.

[barbedsaber]

another update.

My school has an astronomy club, in fact, we have an observatory (and it is freaking huge).

I was looking through the Ubuntu software repos, and I found stellarium, and decided to show the astronomy coordinator the portable version. he loved it, he loved the turn off the atmosphere and stargaze during the day feature, and the stargaze on any day of any year whenever you want to. His next question was, how much does it cost? :lolflag: I explained that it was free and open source and he almost cried with happiness.. he is going to make sure that the school computers get a copy of it soon.


FOSS rocks! :guitar:

[Jim!]

another update.

My school has an astronomy club, in fact, we have an observatory (and it is freaking huge).

I was looking through the Ubuntu software repos, and I found stellarium, and decided to show the astronomy coordinator the portable version. he loved it, he loved the turn off the atmosphere and stargaze during the day feature, and the stargaze on any day of any year whenever you want to. His next question was, how much does it cost? :lolflag: I explained that it was free and open source and he almost cried with happiness.. he is going to make sure that the school computers get a copy of it soon.


FOSS rocks! :guitar:That is awesome dude!:)

[O3.]

Well done.

[barbedsaber]

I appreciate that you all seem so thankful for what I have done, but really, its not that hard. I know its a corny thing to say, but :If I can do it, you can do it." c'mon guys, it doesn't take any effort to keep an eye out for opportunities to incorporate or advertise open source software, and if you save someone from the evils of proprietary ness, or save them forking out wad's of cash for software, aren't you performing a duty to society. Lets all get out there, do our bit and spread the word about FOSS!

[Jim!]

Well..... I did manage to convert a friend of mine to firefox:D

[barbedsaber]

Well..... I did manage to convert a friend of mine to firefox:D

That's what I'm talking about! try and convert someone, and post about it

[barbedsaber]

Update, again

2 more people to fire fox.

the person that I got to open office is one of them, I also go them using Thunderbird. (Evolotion would have been to confusing for them, thunder bird just does email and is simpler.)
3 people to Armegatron Advanced (Game)

but most importantly, I convinced net admin at my school (reception to year 12) to change all the multimedia computers to VLC mediai player, because people couldn't play videos in heaps of formats.

these are the only computers in the school that ever play video, so I was pretty pleased with myself when I did that. :guitar:

[GOROSSI]

Great story even though I use Vista X64 on my Desktop for gaming reasons apart from games the stuff that I run is mainly open source including firefox, thunderbird and Open Office with a few Freeware bits besides.

paid for things are Norton 360 and im dumping that for AVG free in June when the subs run out I only paid £30 for it was on Offer at the time, Symantec want £54 to renew it sod that! Also O&O Defrag which I did pay for an upgrade as I used a free license from a computer magazine for years under XP but it would run under Vista wasn't expensive I think it was £10 at the time very good software given Vista's pathetic tool it gets worst with every new version of windows

otherwise I run ubuntu on my laptop and always recommend an open source alternative to friend or relative.

[barbedsaber]

My grandma's windows xp machine finally kicked the bucket, so I am getting here an eeepc (with an external monitor and keyboard)

At first, I was a bit concerned that all the open stuff would be to different from the MS stuff that she used to have, but then she said that she would need something to use temporarily until the eee arrived. I found an old windows 98 disk, and am installing it my old laptop. (which I continue to insist that I will need one day) when the install is finished, I will replace IE with FF, MS office with OO.o, whatever the default email client is with thunderbird, and windows media player with vlc. That way, when she gets the eee, which will be used to some of the programs. (if any of the programs I mentioned are different from the ones on the eee, please tell me)


w00t, open source is moving forward, one grandma at a time.

[Gwijde]

I recently saved over 200, maybe even 300 bucks buying a new desktop for my mum. If I had bought it with vista it would have been about $399, now it was only $199. It came with knoppix, a bit sad but anyways, I installed ubuntu on it and everything- and when I say everything I mean EVERYTHING- worked out of the box! I then tried to see if XP would do the same thing, but sadly, no. All I got was: "Setup did not find any hard drives on your computer"

Once again, Ubuntu saved the day!

[3rdalbum]

A friend of mine bought a cheap Windows Vista laptop. Her DVD shrinking software didn't work with Vista, and the thing was as slow as molasses. Someone suggested a RAM upgrade might help. It didn't do much. So she got someone to install XP for her... but it was a hacked-up XP, halfway between XP and Vista. It was almost as slow as Vista, and this time NOTHING that involved her DVD burner would work!

She tried everything. Finally I offered to build her an Ubuntu desktop computer. After a minor struggle with a flaw on the motherboard, I got everything up and running perfectly for her, and demonstrated K9Copy. Her jaw dropped at the speed of it. She encountered a problem with Evolution going into "offline mode"; dunno why, but I told her how to fix it.

I saw her again on Saturday when she came into work. I said to her "It's been a while since you've asked for computer help - is everything going alright?". She said "Everything's going fine, thanks". And the smile she gave me was the smile of someone who was at peace with their computer.

[graabein]

:popcorn:

I like threads like these. We should have some sort of ranking/thanks system for number of persons turned on to free and open source alternatives. I mean really collect the (real life) beans!