Comments on: F/OSS Marketing: Attracting Users AND Contributors

By: alan

alan — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:50:12 +0000

I think we need to focus less on selling the technology and more on selling the user experience. Which means, among other things, that selling “Linux” is meaningless, because “Linux” can be one of a thousand different user experiences by the time you turn it into a distro.

People who go on and on about how Linux is more “stable/secure/efficient/etc” too often leave uninformed users with the impression that Linux is just a drop-in replacement for Windows, or some kind of program you install in Windows to make it work better. The impression is that the computing experience won’t change, it’ll just be better.

We all know that’s not true. Using a Linux distro is a completely different computing experience from Windows — and two different distros can be two completely different computing experiences as well.

In a nutshell, it needs to be sold top-down rather than bottom-up.

By: Virgil

Virgil — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:22:47 +0000

I feel a bit angry when people steal software especially Xp, and Photoshop. It was one of the reasons I went to all Free Software was that I used some high quality ones on Windows, such as Firefox (a godsend) and Audacity. Then I decided, why use all free software on a proprietary (and quite bad) OS? The rest is history.

I think that I am quite loyal to Ubuntu, even through any rough patches. I have gotten at least 20 people to try it personally, and many stuck with it. Especially the GNOME users.

By: RoboNuggie

RoboNuggie — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:31:21 +0000

People put a value on things that have a monetary value…. let me give you an example….

A person was clearing out his garage, he found some old electrical equipment, furniture and clothes…. he put them on the street corner with a sign saying “free to a good home”…. after a couple of days, the stuff was still there. Puzzled, he realised that people thought that because it was free, it must be junk, none working rubbish.

He proceded then to write a new note, saying that “For Sale, only Â£10″… left the stuff again, went to bed.

In the morning all the stuff had gone, stolen… it seems that if people are given something for free, they will think it isn’t up to much, and not touch it… If on the other hand it has a monetary value, they will want it…. either buying or stealing.

I have found that if people are after a free OS, they would rather obtain a copied Windows disc than download and try Linux. A shame…

I think we have to start in the school environment if we want to change perceptions.

By: pleia2

pleia2 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:26:25 +0000

Thanks! Yeah, it certainly is difficult. As marketing goes the general rule seems to be that over-selling is good. Unfortunately with F/OSS many people are starting with the impression that “free == lousy” and when they hear you say it’s perfect, they take it home and it’s not, I think there is often an overwhelming sense of “See, I was right, this is junk, I was lied to.” I often hear these stories of people who tried Linux a few years back and felt lied to about how perfect it is, so they’re super cautious.

By: Virgil

Virgil — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:23:07 +0000

This is a good post, I too try to show people that alternatives exist, and experienced much of that. To not oversell it is the most important perhaps. Also the most difficult. :D