Selling Linux to Windows Users

[Dotan Cohen]

2008/12/9 Gilles Gravier <gilles at gravier.org>:
> - Don't pay $300 for your OS. Fine. But NetBSD is free also. OpenSolaris
> is free also. Most people get their OS with their machine. For them, the
> price of the OS is hidden (I didn't say ZERO). They don't see the need
> for an alternative from a price point of view.
>

Better yet, all your 'converts' already bought Windows (or pirated it).

> - When the system was installed, why would you still need to install
> stuff. Maybe because most Linux versions don't ship with Skype, with
> libdvdcss, with Stellarium, with... shall I add more? You STILL need to
> install stuff.
>

Haha, when the 'converts' try to play their first MP3 file they will
find out what codec support their is in Linux! Or if their ISP
requires a dialer (even broadband needs this in many countries) then
the user cannot connect to the 'net at all in Linux. Ha!

> - Forget about drivers. Total fud. Try to plug a fancy 3G phone in a
> linux machine and do OBEX or use your PC as the phones internet server.
> Some features will work. Others won't. Of course, plug the same phone in
> Windows and stick in the vendor CD and everything works. Yeah... forget
> about drivers. If your hardware doesn't come with Linux drivers, you are
> likely out of luck.
>

How about Lexmark, Brother, and other non-HP printers? Webcams? USB
modems? Notebook docks? Fancy mice? Fancy keyboards? Shall I go on?

> - Update all your software with a single click. *IF* it was installed by
> the package manager. If you did a manual install, you're dead. For
> example, today, OpenOffice.org 3.0 isn't in the standard repository of
> Ubuntu. You have to remove 2.4.x and download and manually install
> 3.0.0... and updates won't be automatic.
>

Thank you, that is the one feature that every Windows user needs. He
knows it, too, and will learn a new OS from scratch so that all this
strange new software can connect to the internet and change itself
automatically!

> - Why copy software illegally if you can get it for free. Careful there.
> There are very valid commercial software on Linux. Don't try to let
> people think that if it runs on Linux, it can be used for Free.
> AutoPanorama which I use for fancy photo panoramas is commercial... even
> on Linux. Crossover office is commercial... even on Linux. Oracle is
> commercial... even on Linux. I can add more to this list.
>

I only wish that there were more commercial software on Linux.

> - Need new software? Don't bother searching... unless you are looking
> for the apps mentionned in the point above... or ANY application that
> isn't in Synaptics.
>
> - Jump into the next generation of desktops. I thought that was MacOS?
> :) Seriously... nobody knows what the NEXT generation of desktop will be
> like.
>

What is wrong with the current generation of desktops?

> - Does your digital life seem fragmented? No... Not on my OpenSolaris
> laptop with ZFS filesystem. Oh wait... you were comparing with Windows.
> Yeah. But neither NetBSD nor OpenSolaris show fragmentation. Is Linux
> better here? Than what?
>

Fragmentation? What is that? (Windows power users know, but not casual users).

> - Choose what your desktop looks like. Probably the one of the few ONLY
> one that are valid (unless you count themers for Windows as alternatives).
>

Nobody cares. Really. Actually, the lack of consistency makes things
_difficult_.

> - Why does your Windows get slower every day. Because most Windows users
> download millions of apps and don't even uninstall them. Of course the
> fact that Windows doesn't properly uninstall everything helps... Same as
> above. One of the few only ones that are valid.
>

That is a iser problem, not an OS problem. Do you think that the user
will magically stop downloading new programs to try on this new shiny
OS? You know, the OS that gives him CHOICE! The choice of 20 office
suites (non of them compatible with each other or with the dominant
office suite in the market, mind you), 20 email clients, and 20
desktops? Then what good was all that choice?

> - Do something for the environment. Right. So don't buy your Linux in
> boxes in shops either. Why do Linux distros STILL insist on being sold
> in boxes if they want to be green like that? Be coherent before you are
> green.
>

WTF? The electricity to run my modem and 500 watt computer cannot be
recycled like the software box can.

> - No back doors... like the very famous backdoor in the ATT C compilers
> that inserted specific code in login daemon when you compiled login
> daemon's source code and resulted in a system with back doors? Yes...
> open source HELPS. HELPS A LOT. But it's not a guaranty. It's MUCH
> BETTER. But don't completely rest on your 2 ears...
>

Debian SSL?

> - Enjoy free and unlimited support. Yeah. How do people at Ubuntu live?
> They sell support contracts. For the average user, you can work with
> free community support... just as most Windows home users do... for
> enterprises, they get Linux support contracts from SuSE,
> Canonical/Ubuntu, Red Hat, Mandriva... just as they do with
> Microsoft/Windows.
>

Free support from mailing lists so long as you have rtfm, stfa, don't
top post, trim properly, don't post in html, and grovel to the gurus?

> - Use all IM protocols in one single client. Yes. Pidgin runs on Windows
> as well. In fact, Trillian, an alternative to Pidgin, which also
> supports all IM protocols only runs on Windows... not Linux.
>

For text. If you want to use video, audio, scratchpad, or send files
over IM, then it's back to windows my friend.

> - Too many windows? Use workspaces. I have 2 screens on my machine.
> Easier to move mouse from left screen to right than to use workspaces.
>

Because the taskbar is just too easy to understand in any OS.



I'm not even going to go on. Freetards get some rest. Then when you
wake up, instead of trying to convert people to use Linux because
WINDOWS IS TEH EVILS put your energy into making Linux better. Write
to Adobe and Solidworks and request Linux versions of their software.
Write to Lexmark and request Linux drivers. And so on.

-- 
Dotan Cohen

http://what-is-what.com
http://gibberish.co.il

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