Re: [Hampshire] pcworld southampton & linux (pavithra

Chris Dennis wrote:
[...]

> Free software is a secret from most people -- they only hear about the
> stuff that's advertised on the telly.

Well said!
The 'retail therapy' is consumed relentlessly and most people are
completely hooked into it. We are deeply immersed in a retail
environment. It is powered by businesses, and welcomed not rejected,
by most of us as consumers. FOSS is almost entirely a non retail
experience. This is alien to our consumer habits. It takes some
getting used to. It does not fit well into the expected advertising
(expensive) culture, and is tainted in superficial reputation with the
often justified saying 'you dont get owt for nowt'.

Advertising has to be done by - us.

Except when I am in the shower, :-) I nearly *always* wear a hat or
tee shirt advertising my own favourite 'brand' (ubuntu).
Marketing is partly about establishing a brand, and for better or
worse, Ubuntu is doing this best.

> On the other hand, there are some who are getting the message. A bloke
> phoned me the other day saying "I've just bought a laptop. It's got
> Vista on it, but I don't want that. Please can you install Ubuntu on it
> for me?". So I did (and got paid for it).

I have an elderly friend who was scared of computers. She saw a
friend's Ubuntu and was transfixed. She wanted a laptop, her first,
but only with Ubuntu, not Windows. I helped her look round, after she
had gone into her usual John Lewis store in London asking for one, but
found she did not get very far. I know I could have installed Ubuntu
for her onto a laptop, but neither she nor I wanted to -buy- windows,
and she was happiest with the idea of buying into a conventional
'retail' experience. I knew also that the use of a working integrated
webcam, cordless mouse and a mobile internet dongle - would all be
paramount for her.

Linux Emporium were good for the stock laptop item and the background
questions and support. They made a sale.

The even more notable thing was that another elderly (mutual) friend
liked the Ubuntu laptop so much that she also bought one just the same
a few weeks later! along with a small progfile HP printer, which Linux
Emporium also helped configure. Not that it needed any work in the
event, but their experienced support was highly valued.

In summary, this was a double sale of Ubuntu laptops, and a printer,
expressley not Windows, and it came about because people had seen
Ubuntu and Windows and knew they had a choice (with my help after they
asked me).

Keep up the spreading the word, and help your friends, they are the
lucky ones.
--
alan cocks
Ubuntu user