How to introduce ubuntu to a friend? [closed]

Question

Every release cycle I put up the Ubuntu count down on my facebook and generally proclaim my excitement at the wonders of the latest installment of our beloved OS. Typically this is met with apathy by most of my friends, who are content with their windows and macs and are faintly aware that linux has something to do with penguins... For Natty however, I did get a few tentative inquiries, along side one or two pledges to try Ubuntu out.

My problem started here, however. Each of my interested friends had a go with my netbook, which I assured them they wouldn't break. It started off well, with most of them getting to grips with Unity, and the like, fairly quickly. But then it all started to go wrong when the questions began, and I soon found myself trying to explain KDE vs Gnome :/

I found that people coming from other OS' weren't equipped to understand the modular nature of linux, the aspects of community that surround it, and the advantages of open source, etc. and so couldn't see the advantage of switching.

So, hopefully I'll get another chance for Oneric, and I wanted to know from people who had successfully introduced Ubuntu to a friend, how you did it.

Answer 1

Just so you know, this question is extremely subjective. However, there are good ways and bad ways of doing this

In my experience, 99.99999% of the time, they don't care what they're running.

As long as they can do facebook, use their camera, and listen to music, they're set.

• Granted, "Linux" seems to have this negative affect on people, so I wouldn't brand this a Linux. Rather, I'd brand it as being Ubuntu.

• For the best "Windows-like" experience (ewwwwww), you can't go wrong with Lubuntu - it has a bottom panel-only experience (similar to the defaults for Windows.)

• You'll want to setup a ssh server so you can remote troubleshoot. however do NOT tell them that you can do that. Because if they do, then they'll either A. Freak out or B. Nag you every time something goes wrong, and you'll never get any sleep. Or maybe you do want to tell them. Up to you.

• You should probably sit down with them and a LiveUSB/LiveCD for an hour or so before you actually touch their computer.

• Do data migration for them. And by that, I mean get all their data from Windows to Ubuntu if you can. If you can't, then don't try.

• If it's a netbook, don't use 11.04 - stick with 10.04 - some trackpads are a tab buggy on Lucid (so you'll spend more time working on them), however, the speed on 11.04 (and Unity(2D/3D)) is pretty bad on most netbooks (speaking from experience).

That's about it from my perspective. Good luck converting them, and may the Kernel be with you. ;)

Answer 2

Best to put it on people's computers where they are non-technical and have some minor problem such as a rootkitted Windows install. Put Ubuntu on and, so long as they can surf the internets, read their Facebook thingies and play music, all should be fine.

These people do not care about KDE or Gnome. They may not be technical like we are but I don't think that matters at all. A few months down the line they may need to open their CV in Word - but they still have the Windows startup option and can do that.

It should be 'it just works', and, for the intensive but non technical surfer Ubuntu is great. They also get kudos when someone they know sees them surfing the net from Ubuntu.