DISCUSSION: ADVOCACY : Steering a Path between Infatuation and Fanaticism

mephisto786 · 01-21-2006, 01:14 PM

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by Jibril Hambel (copylefted under the GNU Free Documentation License) It doesn't take long before many new Linux converts feel they're ready to venture out into the Temple of the Money Changers, the high cyber seas, or among the great unwashed masses (pick a metaphor) to be a voice crying out in the wilderness. Crying out what? Linux. It's free, as in beer and speech, its faster, its stabler, it's got a whole lot more online tech help, and oh yeah, did I mention free?! It isn't long before they are met with yawns or downright hostile stares from friends and co-workers who have just cleaned out a bushel of spyware, taken their box to the doctor for a virus which ravished their hard-drive with a ball gag and duct tape, and made them reinstall Windows XP service pack 14. Again. They don't want to hear about this crude hacker's system which requires you to know how much RAM you have and what a partition is. Why in hell not, you wonder.

halvy · 01-23-2006, 01:11 PM

so if people want to still use windows (and make themselves miserable and oblivious to the obvious changes coming) then let them.

after all, most linux folks were raised on windows and we are ALL forced to some extent to still: 'deal with m$'... therefore we SHOULD BE patient with these people.. for they know not what they do..

the windows community is actually more 'militant' by far, than 'linux freqs'-- simply by the fact that they 'allow' the m$ tax to be applied to nearly every pc we buy (at least here in the usa).

we (the oss community) can only spread the word cheerfully, .. where it winds up is not our concern.

mephisto786 · 01-24-2006, 07:12 AM

Couldn't agree with you more. I just wonder if a certain militancy is a part of the overall learning curve, when you see the 'gnu world.' But when dealing with advocacy issues, it really does no good to 'preach' to people who aren't interested.

So too with elitism. Is it part of the whole process of mastering a very complex OS? One thing is certain, it puts people off, and unfortunately that often includes people who are new to Linux. Ive seen too many posts which practically yell at people for getting upset that they messed up their system trying to install. Posts which say 'Excuse me, but we VOLUNTEER to help people for FREE here so don't get all snitty!"

Makes the volunteer linux user look worse than the confused newb trying to salvage his system. We should be part of a solution and not producing more problems, whether it be problems of attitude or problems over distro politcs. And yeah, the tactics are different by the MS camp is definitely not sleeping! I fought to get a laptop sans MS, but ended with a cheaper one which unfortunately had XP. And it is everywhere. I don't have to like that, but I do have to deal with that reality.

cuiq · 01-24-2006, 01:33 PM

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Why in hell not, you wonder.

Change is the hardest for humans to adjust to, yet they are forced to do it on a regular basis. I find it interesting that most don't recognize this fact.

Computers (like autombiles)have infiltrated our world and are here to stay. What most people fail to realize is that they have a choice. However once they find this out then they become afraid to make a choice. Because that means making a change.

Randall Slack · 01-24-2006, 01:46 PM

i think that the average is very capable to adapt to changes, whats the difference between kde and windows anyway if you don't know what's under the hood?
what i noticed to be the biggest hurdle is that you have to convince someone to start using something different then everybody else uses.

i find it the most effective to simply install it for someone the moment their windows desperately needs a reinstall anyway. sometimes they are happy with the change, sometimes they long back to windows.

you can't Lin them all!!

cuiq · 01-24-2006, 02:20 PM

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whats the difference between kde and windows anyway if you don't know what's under the hood?

Looks wise probably nothing and if the person never used a computer before (but this is quickly changing). I find it hard just to get some to even use a different browser, IE is so engraved on their brains that even when I install firefox along side IE they will still use IE because of the familier and because they just don't want to learn anything new until they are forced to. I install firefox on every computer that I am asked to fix and I can count how many have actually used it.
So if they don't even want to use firefox as a better alternative, how will they ever be convinced to try linux.
I have also given away many liveCD's many tell that they want to try linux, and of all the liveCD's I've given away only one in the past three years have wanted to install linux.

Change is very hard for many people especially when the market is saturated with the one program to fit all thought process.
When I'm asked to repair a computer one of the first questions I ask is "which operating system are you using"? The top answer for me of all time is "whatever they gave me with the computer". When I persist and ask "what is the first screen you see after the black screen with writing"? I get, "Oh! you mean the screen with all the buttons on it". At this point I just tell them to bring me their computer and I'll see what I can do.

When I'm constantly going through this, I know that a switch to linux for some is going to be nearly impossible.