Nils Philippsen wrote:
> On Thu, 18 Nov 1999, Blackjax wrote:
> > Someone wrote:
> > >How do we get folks to use it at home? How do we get the word out
> > >and *show* people that we have something really special here in terms they
> > >can understand and accept?
> >
> > I see comments like these and I worry. Note that there is no question of
> > whether folks at home should use it, this is simply a foregone conclusion.
>
> I have never seen people advocating Windows asking themselves the same
> question or whether it suits for a server. Linux can be used at home and
> it can be used by non-CS people as well, it has been proven multiple
> times.
I'm not sure how much I can add to what Nils wrote, as I agree with almost
everything he said.
I think the question is not
'how do we make people use Linux'
but is
'how do we show them that there is a viable alternative OS called Linux'
And - IMO - that's all. Show them. Not yell in their face, not 'market' to
them. Just inform.
Oh, sure, people are in the habit of being marketed to. But .. well, a lot
of people are sick of it, too. ;)
Anyway, what I think might work is to talk to friends who own or work in
computer shops - retail ones - and get them to take 'that old computer
system which is kind of low-spec nowadays', and put Linux on it - one
of the end-user-specialist linuxes. Get them to play with it till they're
comfortable, then sit it in the corner of the shop with Linux CDs and
penguin books around it, and mark it as a low-price system .. with a
nice, healthy profit margin. :)
That will mean there's at least one salesman in the shop who knows
how difficult/easy Linux is to use, and can give customers an informed
opinion. And that Linux is out there.
Of course, that won't work if That Company is still making those icky
'sell only our product or we'll make the price to you skyrocket' threats. :(
Other suggestions for getting the word out?
(And no, that's 'getting the word out' not 'making people do things
without adequate information'.)
Jenn V.
--
Humans are the only species to feed and house entirely separate species
for no reason other than the pleasure of their company. Why?
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Jenn Vesperman http://www.simegen.com/~jenn/
************
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxchix.org
