You should keep in mind some of Dale Carnegie's principles. (Say what you
like about the man, but he knew people and he knew how to convince them of
things.)
Don't tell them they're wrong. This just makes them defensive. Call
attention to their mistakes indirectly.
Get them agreeing with you immediately. Your very first sentence should
either say something they'll agree with, or be neutral. ("I read with great
interest your article about 'What's so hot about Linux'.")
Give honest, sincere appreciation. ("Thank you for writing about Linux, and
for asking about it. Many journalists would not be willing to admit they
didn't know everything about a subject, and would refuse to mention it at
all.")
Show him (don't tell him, DEMONSTRATE it, he won't take your word for it)
how it's in his best interest to see Linux succeed. For technical reasons,
not political ones.
Mr. Carnegie used to say that "unless the mantle of Mark Twain has descended
upon your head, don't try to use humor". I apply that to this situation
similarly:
Unless the mantle of Eric S. Raymond has descended upon your head, don't try
to explain the political reasons behind supporting Linux. Folks who do that
a hell of a lot better than you or I could will do so. Trust them.
Write about what you know. That is the only way to deliver an effective
speech or an effective letter, and what you know is this:
Why you as an individual use Linux. You're the world's foremost expert on
that subject. So write about that, and you'll be as effective as you
possibly can be.
You're not trying to browbeat him into using it, and you're hopefully not
trying to browbeat him into NOT using it. You're trying to show him, as
cogently as you can, why Linux works for you.
If you can contrast this with why Windows 95 doesn't work for you, that's
fine; but only if you have specific, concrete examples. "Because it crashes
all the time" is worse than useless. Remember that he'll be reading your
message on a Windows 95 system that's maintained by a knowledgeable IS
staff, and probably doesn't crash all that often.
If you can, find excuses to throw his name into sentences. "A person's name
is the sweetest sound in the world to that person." Don't go overboard,
though; if every paragraph starts with "John, " it'll become a joke instead
of a compliment.
Finally, even if you thought his article totally sucked and you think he's a
complete idiot who would benefit from a nice killing, tell him you enjoyed
his article and that you look forward to reading more such articles in the
future.
Last but not least, if you see me violating any of these principles, don't
assume it's because they don't work. It's actually because I have a
tremendous amount of room to grow as a person, and quite often fail to do
what's right. These principles work.
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