How should Ubuntu be promoted? [closed]

Use it everyday! That's the most effective way :)


I've brought a number of people from Windows to Ubuntu. There are several points that usually end up being the strongest sells:

  1. They want to have me as a technical resource when they have computer problems. I tell them I will only support them if they run Ubuntu, since I don't really use Windows myself anymore myself.

  2. They are suffering with spyware and viruses on Windows and want to escape that, but don't want to shell out for a new computer. They like the idea that Ubuntu is immune to all this tends to resonate with them.

  3. I try to always have a non-technical person like my wife with me, as they can speak more peer-to-peer and reassure them that you don't need to be a computer expert or anything. They also tend to be able to explain things in a way that newbies can understand, when I'd be giving Too Much Information.

I usually leave all the stuff about the free software ethos as secondary, just frosting for them. Some people groove to that, but for most people it's not a selling point; if it were, they'd probably have tried out Ubuntu already.

I also don't talk about the free cost of Ubuntu. That can make them think, "Hmm, must not be any good". Instead I'll say, "You pay for a support contract - that's how they make money, and they're actually pretty good. But that's optional, if you don't think you'll need it, you can use it without paying anything, on as many computers as you want."