[ubuntu-uk] Leaflets

[Alan Pope]

On Wed, May 02, 2007 at 12:50:57PM +0100, TheVeech wrote:
> > [2] http://hants.lug.org.uk/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?InfoPoints/FlyerMasters
> > [3] http://gllug.org.uk/index.php?/archives/25-Review-Software-Freedom-Day.html
> > [4] http://misc.allbsd.de/Flyer
> 
> Will take a good look at this perhaps tomorrow.  Before then, I was
> confronted by a friend of mine on Monday, saying he'd been told by two
> of his colleagues that they'd tried Linux and thought it was crap.
> 

Heh, why is it people feel they can just sweep away thousands of 
applications and a robust kernel with "it's crap". Ok I'll bite.

"I think Windows Vista is crap". There, quote me :)

> Reading between the lines of what was said, they clearly understood
> little about Linux because they understood nothing of its social and
> economic model, a model which means that Linux is a lot more than just
> an OS on a CD (so is Windows, for that matter).  This suggests that they
> hadn't done any homework about the system, so any faults were likely on
> their part.  I think it's crucial that people understand this as much as
> advocacy about the OS alone, tools and limited cost arguments.
> 

This is where I feel leaflets can come in handy. "Here, read this". You 
don't have to argue with them, it's there in black and white. For some 
reason people seem more likely to trust a bit of paper than they do your 
voice. I guess a bit of paper with a logo on looks somehow more official, 
has an air of authority and truth. 

The thing to remember is that people don't like being told they made a 
stupid decision. There is a guy here at work who has nailed his flag very 
firmly to the Windows mast. He is a vista fan through and through. Having 
worked in the past for an outsourced Microsoft official support centre, he 
knows the products pretty well. Pointing out that he is making a duff choice 
putting his faith in that software implies that he is somehow stupid, and 
that's not the best way to approach these people.

If someone says to me that Linux is crap I take a breath and ask them what 
they tried and more importantly when. I have had people convert from "linux 
is rubbish" to "this is great, I installed mythtv at the weekend" - which is 
no mean feat in itself! It's all about the approach. Slowly slowly catchy 
monkey. And if you can backup your speil with a bit of paperwork, all the 
better.

Cheers,
Al.