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Editorial Software Linux

Open Source Advocacy The Right Way 364

Posted by Zonk from the for-those-of-you-about-to-rant-we-salute-you dept.
[vmlinuz] writes "With a rapid succession of people moving towards Open Source, advocacy and evangelism is increasingly important in helping organizations to move over. The O'Reilly Network has begun publishing a series of articles about Open Source by Jono Bacon that teaches how to approach advocacy sensibly and more productively." From the article: "Although Aristotle developed his message many, many years ago, the concept of optimizing how we talk to people has developed further throughout history. From Aristotle to Heraclitus to Friedrich Nietzsche to Helen Keller to George Bernard Shaw, many people have advocated new thinking in times of rabid opposition."
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Open Source Advocacy The Right Way More

Open Source Advocacy The Right Way

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  • You mean... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 04, 2005 @11:02AM (#11844571)
    Being a geek that hasn't showered in a week, constantly rambling about "Evil Micro$oft" isn't a good way to advocate OSS?

    What about yelling First Post????

  • Linux Evangelism (Score:5, Funny)

    by Stanistani ( 808333 ) on Friday March 04, 2005 @11:03AM (#11844575) Homepage Journal
    *Leans over podium*
    Brethern, it is the time of the Apocalypse!
    Stand up and be saved!
    *Thumps loudly on "Linux in a Nutshell"*
    Who is ready to receive saaaaalvation?!

  • Nietzsche on Open Source (Score:4, Funny)

    by BlueThunderArmy ( 751258 ) on Friday March 04, 2005 @11:06AM (#11844615) Homepage
    I preach to you the Superlinux! Windows is something that must be surpassed. Thus spake Zarathustra.

  • Miracles speak for themselves (Score:4, Funny)

    by leereyno ( 32197 ) on Friday March 04, 2005 @11:08AM (#11844629) Homepage Journal
    Places hand on crashed system running Windows.....

    "You shall be Heeeaaaled!!!!"

    "Praise Linus!!!!"

  • GASP! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Dorsai65 ( 804760 ) <[dkmerriman] [at] [gmail.com]> on Friday March 04, 2005 @11:09AM (#11844641) Homepage Journal

    You mean that calmly and rationally pointing out the benefits of something accomplishes more that foaming-at-the-mouth, in-your-face, mine-is-the-One-True-Way evangelism?

    Nah, can't be. If things really worked that way, just think of all the time thats been wasted...

  • I am reminded of an old Norwegian quote: (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Sheetrock ( 152993 ) on Friday March 04, 2005 @11:11AM (#11844664) Homepage Journal
    "The best penguin sells itself."

    It means little unless you know it's spoken from the perspective of a 15th century penguin salesman extolling the virtues of a soft sell vs. a hard sell. The latter is most necessary with an inferior product; if the quality of the merchandise can speak for itself, don't get in its way.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • My only question is how a 15th century Norwegian is selling penguins. Penguins live in the Antarctic

    • LOL: (Score:2)

      by Kjella ( 173770 )
      Nice, except there doesn't live pinguins in Norway (nor in the rest of the northern hemisphere), if they did they'd probably only be on Svalbard and the expression would never enter mainstream language (What does he think? That ice bears walk around in our cities?), and even so I doubt it'd become an expression. Simply not catchy enough, and could be applied to almost any product.

      Made me laugh at least, though I'm not sure if you were going for funny mods :)

      Kjella

  • The best way is to really 'show' them (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 04, 2005 @11:13AM (#11844675)
    ..the advantages of using open source software. Because I don't have to pay Windows licensing fees, I have to spend less time working, and can spend more time with my girlfriend, and more time lifting weights. People always ask me why my relationship is so successful, or how I had time to tone my body, and I just say "I use Open Source Software."
  • My aunts husband asked me a few days ago if I wouldn't mine showing him Linux and telling him a bit about it when he next comes round. I'm a little worried that I'll yap on endlessly about open source and Linux only being a kernel and the GPL and bore him to death before he even gets a chance to see how great various distos are.

    What I really need is a good, SHORT, list of information about linux and open source software that I can print out and give to him to read at his leasure so I can get on with showin
    • You might find this site useful: Linux Switcher [linuxswitcher.com]
    • I would say that you should just stay away from that altogether. He won't care, and if he does, he will no doubt ask you. Get on with showing him distros and programs and all that, and if he asks questions, answer them.
    • 1) Will he even care what license he's actually using? Is he likely to take some of the source code and tinker with it? If not then he probably doesn't need to know anything about it apart from the fact he can get most of the software he needs fo free off of the internet and that he's allowed to give his friends copies.

      2) Does he know what a kernel is? If not then don't mention anything about the kernel etc.

      Why don't you just boot the computer up into xwindows and show him what kind of software he can use

    • Re:Little off topic (Score:3, Insightful)

      by pe1rxq ( 141710 )
      Keep it simple... Don't go into things like 'linux is only a kernel'.
      Tell hime why it is good, i.e. not being force fed things by the marketing department of a certain big company but having choices (you could briefly mention the many distro options as an example of choice).
      Mention that good design is leading the developmend instead.
      Also think why the hell you used it yourself in the first place and more important why you kept using it. (Be carefull this answer doesn't get to geeky)

      Jeroen
    • My aunts husband

      So, your uncle, right?

      • Re:Little off topic (Score:3, Interesting)

        by cens0r ( 655208 )
        I frequently refer to some of my aunt's and uncles as my aunt's husband or my uncle's wife. Why? Well because in those cases the person with the blood relation to me has divorced an remarried. Even though the new spouse is technically an aunt or uncle, my mind has a hard time calling them that when they are not the aunt or uncle I had when growing up.
  • ...the concept of optimizing how we talk to people has developed further throughout history. From Aristotle to Heraclitus to Friedrich Nietzsche to Helen Keller to George Bernard Shaw...

    Was that some kind of sick joke...?
    • ...the concept of optimizing how we talk to people has developed further throughout history. From Aristotle to Heraclitus to Friedrich Nietzsche to Helen Keller to George Bernard Shaw...

      Actually, as I discovered recently, Hellen Keller was (in)famous for being a highly influential author, speaker, socialist and possible communist [wikipedia.org]. It's amazing what can be written out of history because the truth is not a comfortable, heart-warming view of how someone 'should' have been...
    • optimizing how we talk to people

      Say what you will, but ol' Helen is probably the epitome of optimizing interpersonal communication. I can hardly tell a joke on Jabber without using a smiley, but she used her hands to read lips. That's like the speech equivalent of writing a graphics card driver in microcode.

      I'm not saying I'm a big fan of her message, but I'm definitely impressed with her ability to deliver it, all things considered.

  • Order of Events (Score:3, Interesting)

    by maczealot ( 864883 ) on Friday March 04, 2005 @11:21AM (#11844741)
    "From Aristotle to Heraclitus" Heraclitus was PRE-Socratic, i.e. BEFORE Aristotle's time... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraclitus And as far as evangelism goes, it'd prolly be better to lean more towards Demosthenes an orator. Aristotle was not consumed with the need to convince his audience that he was speaking for .

  • LinuxAppeal (Score:3, Informative)

    by germanStefan ( 766513 ) on Friday March 04, 2005 @11:22AM (#11844769) Homepage
    LinuxAppeal.net [linuxappeal.net] is a good site to appeal to companies to release linux products. It is not a site where users bitch about companies, but rather people can find well written petitions, write their own (and add them to the site) and submit them to companies.

    I figure the more people who petition companies the better so I've written a few petitions of my own on the site in hope that others will find them via google when searching for linux support for a product and petition the company as well.

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday March 04, 2005 @11:23AM (#11844775)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Make OpenOffice as good as MS Office.

      It's already there. Or did you mean ``the same as''? It's just as good, unless you define ``as good as'' to mean ``identical to''.

      Make a GNU/Linux system as easy to use as Windows ...

      It's already there. Or did you mean ``the same as''? It's just as easy to use, unless you define ``as easy to use as'' to mean ``identical to''.

      ... or come up with GPLed equivalents for 99% of existing Windows software.

      We already have those equivalents. Or did you mean ``exa

      • I think by as good as the parent simply means "offers the same features", that would include easy of use and computability.

        Open Office doesn't have the same feature set as MS office. Maybe you consider that "identical to", but for most people of one program (or suite) lacks feature the other one has, then it isn't as good.

        Particularly if you use those features.

        There are lots of open source programs covering the same area as a commercial one, few are as good, or better. FireFox is a great example of on

    • You are such a pc prick. The author doesn't compare the open-source struggle to Helen Keller's. He just points out that some well respected minds have ensured their delivery matched their content and so should we. Don't put words in people's mouths then criticise them.

      Justin.

  • Best Open Source Advocacy (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Alif ( 705217 )
    Best open source advocacy is the Microsoft's study about TCO. They base their claim on the postulate that a linux expert has higher salary then a MSWin expert. To a MSWin expert, this is very appealing argument to start to learn linux.

  • Meet Customers Needs (Score:4, Insightful)

    by $criptah ( 467422 ) on Friday March 04, 2005 @11:25AM (#11844790) Homepage

    You can have a top-notch techonlogy and the best minds in the world working on R&D and you can still fail if you do not satisfy customer requirements or needs or both.

    Engineers do not get one thing: no invention can be spread around the world until it can be sold. In this world marketing and sales are just as important (if not more) as R&D and staying on bleeding edge. If you have a Linux box that cannot meet my needs, why the fuck would I buy it? Because somebody with a Ph.D worked on some programs in that box? Give me a fucking break.

    Everybody is screaming about Linux and how great it is. I do not see it. Dell sells cheap Wintel boxes because that is what customers want: something cheap and easy. IBM invested money in new technology along with research; it sold its PC division to Lenovo. HP and Compaq had R&D... Now their joint venture is swimming down the toilet. The point is that it does not matter how cool YOU think Linux and Open Source are. They're not going to spread around the world unless people find them useful. No advocacy will help. You can write to tech magazines and give lectures to college students and that is fine; however, you won't be able to succeed until people start saying, "Wow, this Linux thing is really want I need." The keyword is "need." Not "want" or "cool" or "wow." Need for a cheap, effective tech solution is what can and will drive Open Source. This is pure business.

    In this world everything is sold, not bought. Sell an Open Source solution to the public and you shall succeed. Nobody gives (or should give) a flying fuck about the technology and what it is inside. If you really want to push Open Source, show cost savings, productivity increase, and fewer losses contributed to the fact that Open Source is not Windows. Then people will talk to you :)

  • You start the procedure by using a LiveCD. Once successfull you load Linux into a dual boot configuration with Windoze. Now you have traction, time for you exercise the demon.

  • Surely there's something wrong here! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Mr. Cancelled ( 572486 ) on Friday March 04, 2005 @11:31AM (#11844852)
    As every Slashdot reader knows, the best way to advocate Linux is to belittle those who ask questions (preferably with over used abreviations like "RTFM", and "ROTFLMAO"), all the while making lame 'Winblows' jokes. Oh! And let's not forget that you must also belittle every developers efforts as trying to turn Linux into an MS clone.

    Yet I didn't see these methods listed anywhere in the article. Perhaps the author should surf Slashdot, or OSNews a bit more before his next article.

  • Who cares?!? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by dfn5 ( 524972 ) on Friday March 04, 2005 @11:38AM (#11844910) Journal
    Honestly, who cares about advocacy? IMHO, (which is why I'm posting right?), Open source is not about getting other people to use open source but instead to do cool stuff. I am involved in Open Source because I like to program, nothing more, nothing less. If someone uses my program then great. If not I don't care. My license plate says "OPENSRC" not because I'm advocating open source but because it is what I am about. If someone asks me my opinion I'll say go open source. If they choose to ignore my advice then so be it.

    And isn't that what is wrong with the world today. People need to worry about themselves and not about what other people are doing. (unless, of course, those other people are hurting other people)

    • Re:Who cares?!? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ThousandStars ( 556222 ) on Friday March 04, 2005 @01:07PM (#11845809) Homepage
      Honestly, who cares about advocacy?

      People care about advocacy because computers, especially now that so many are interconnected, exhibit a strong network effect. The more people who use a given OS or architecture or whatever, the more likely developers will write programs for it and the more likely that costs will drop from economies of scale. Peripheral vendors and ISPs will support the most common configurations possible. That means if you want your life to have fewer computer hassles, you're better off recommending that others use OSes and such similar to the one you use -- otherwise you'll buy scanners that are unsupported, and your ISP won't give you tech support and if you need an obscure piece of software you might not be able to find it.

      People do need to worry, at least somewhat, about what other people are doing, because what other people are doing usually affects the people observing, at least to some degree.

      The individual is a part of a larger web, and the vibrations you send from your tiny part of the (metaphorical) web travel through it in ways not always perceived by you.


  • Push Polling [wikipedia.org] usually worx.

    sample question:
    "Would you be more likely or less likely to by ClosedSource/Proprietary/ClosedStandard Application [xml-dev.com] if you knew they were designed to trap you in becomming life-long customer (vendor lock-in)?" ?

    Oh wait, that is not push-polling - That is the truth!!!.

  • What's definitely the wrong way... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ssj_195 ( 827847 ) on Friday March 04, 2005 @11:38AM (#11844920)
    ...is the way I was introduced to Linux and the open-source world. "Open-source software never crashes!" (false); "Open-source software is nearly always better than proprietary software!" (true in some cases, but on the whole, I would say, false); "Install Linux and all your problems will be solved!" (he he he :)) These are all "facts" (albeit roughly paraphrased) that I heard, from several sources about Linux and open-source in general.

    So I excitedly downloaded and burned some Mandrake 9.1 CDs, installed (amazingly painless), and entered this whole new world of Linux and Open Source.

    There are many ways you could describe my reaction to the yawning gulf between expectation and reality: "furious backlash" would be one; "blind seething rage and betrayal" would be another. The catalogue of disasters and frustrations that followed left me cursing the names of the people who recommended Linux to me as this wonderful cure-all and utterly *hating* Linux with every fibre of my being. I actually stuck with it for a few more days and, after deciding that linux was the most pointless project I had ever had the misfortune of dabbling with, returned to the comparatively hassle-free bosom of Windows.

    Luckily for me, the story didn't end there and some persistent and random lockups in Windows led me to re-install Linux (Mandrake 10, this time around) to see whether it was hardware or driver related (a dodgy fan on my graphics card, for what it's worth). This time around, with my expectations greatly lowered (in fact, by this stage, Linux had improved unrecognisably, and I was very pleased with its progress), I fell head-over-heels in love and haven't had Windows installed since.

    But it could so easily have gone the other way; it is hard to explain just how much the hype followed by disappointment soured me on Linux at the time (an understatement!) and it is my firm belief that if I had been forewarned about the things that I could do in Windows but not in Linux, I would not have reacted so sharply. So now, when "recommending" Linux to the curious, I usually start with a list of negatives (some hardware may not work; you may not be able to run your favourite games; don't expect installation of software to follow the Windows model, or you'll be in a world of hurt) before extolling its non-pragmatic virtues ("It's an operating system with love in it!"). It's heartening that quite a few people are still willing to give it a shot even after hearing my litany of gloom :)

    So in a nutshell, don't be a blind fanboy, or you will be Open Source's worst enemy; let people know that there will be concessions to make, but that many people still feel the switch is worth it. Make a special point of mentioning just how different and customisable it can be (show them a variety of WMs, from the absurdly minimalist (Ratpoision) to the wonderfully glitzy (Enlightenment) - this diversity and difference from the comparative homogeniety of Windows usually gets people curious, in my experience). Don't oversell it, as this is just a recipe for disaster.

    Oh, and this post mainly deals with the casual home PC user, so might be a little off-topic - apologies for that :)

    • 4 odd years ago I had a success converting one guy to Linux after he'd had KAK worm take his computer out.

      At first, the response was to tell him to buy a virus checker. He bought a £15 a month McAfee subscription but got suspicious when his PC slowed right down. He updated McAfee which found nothing and then uninstalled McAfee and installed AVG which found Sircam. After much swaering he asked "how I dealt with all this shit" at which point I said I don't have to, produced my laptop, showed off Linux

  • Listening to what people want is the best way (Score:3, Insightful)

    by gillbates ( 106458 ) on Friday March 04, 2005 @11:39AM (#11844927) Homepage Journal

    I listen to what people are tell me about their computer experience:

    • If it's filled with complaints about how often their system crashes, freezes, or slows down, I'll inform them that I could fix this if they're willig to try something new (Linux).
    • If, OTOH, they complain about not being able to play the latest games, or run the latest applications they bought at Best Buy, I'll recommend they learn to use a firewall, AV software, etc...

    It still amazes me the number of people who are willing to ditch Windows completely and learn something new. As long as you clearly explain the pros and cons of running Linux, most people are willing to try Linux. Where you see Linux get a bad rap is when a flaming OSS zealot installs Linux over a crashed Windows installation without first explaining to the user that their previous system, as they knew it, will be completely gone.

    And contrary to popular /. opinion, Linux is not always the best choice:

    • There are still a class of users who prefer to format and reinstall every 6-12 months because it is easier for them than learning to use Linux.
    • Let's not forget gamers - most of whom would be mighty unpleased if some OSS zealot "restored" their system and *lost* all of their games.

    I think the key to being a successful OSS advocate is simply to listen to needs of people. Many idealistic people would run FOSS software, but don't because they don't have the requisite knowledge (or time) to understand it. That's where a good OSS zealot can help people out. But at the same time, we have to realize that for those users who rely on Windows-centric "features", installing Linux would not be doing them a favor.

  • Any IBMers going to San Diego for next week's conference? One of the offerings is "How to build an enterprise using only Open Source software". Should be interesting.
  • on formats people use and the shackled they accept in their every day lives. If we show people that they are stuck paying expensive fees or pirating to use their computers they'll be more interested in hearing about alternatives.
  • one good resource for promoting open source software on windows is the OpenCD [theopencd.org]

    it's much easier for some to learn by using than it is by listening...

  • Inspection analogy (Score:3, Insightful)

    by PhilHibbs ( 4537 ) <snarks@gmail.com> on Friday March 04, 2005 @11:55AM (#11845096) Journal
    If a civil engineering company offered "proprietary" contracts, where all work was conducted in secrecy and was not subject to inspection, then this would clearly be unacceptable. It is equally important that software be subject to similar inspections, and therefore that the source code be made available. Remember, "Open Source" does not mean "freely redistributable". A private company could tender for a contract and produce the software that the government can use and have the source code for, without that software being downloadable from SourceForge for all to copy and use.

    If you want to campaign for "Free software", then that is a different matter. I respect that point of view, but it's much harder. Anything worthwhile is probably going to be difficult.

  • Letter from Peruvian Congressman (Score:4, Insightful)

    by suso ( 153703 ) on Friday March 04, 2005 @12:10PM (#11845257) Journal
    This letter [opensource.org] by Dr. Edgar David Villenueva Nunez that the linked article links to is absolutely fantastic. I've never read such a good argument for open source outside of its founders. Nor have I read such a great and well thought out letter by a modern day politician. It makes me want to move to Peru.

    I think that you all should take a moment to read through that so that you can remind yourself that open source is the "more correct" form of software development.

  • How to talk to businesspeople (Score:4, Insightful)

    by UES ( 655257 ) on Friday March 04, 2005 @01:08PM (#11845813)
    WRONG:

    The #1 product in the market sucks. The company that makes it is evil. This free software you never heard of is the best. It is written collectively by hippies. Everything should be free, including YOUR products.

    RIGHT:

    The #1 selling product in the market is not the best in the market. If we implement [Linux, etc.], it will be CHEAPER, it will be MORE SECURE, it will produce LESS DOWNTIME, it is EASIER TO UPGRADE, you will increase your PROFITS by reducing costs.

  • Nobody likes an evangelist (Score:3, Insightful)

    by qwijibo ( 101731 ) on Friday March 04, 2005 @03:28PM (#11847438)
    Most people aren't software people. Most people do things with their computers. It's only geeks like me who like computers for the sake of computers. All the business people I work with have to use them. They simply do not care about anything other than their needs being met in the most timely, reliable and cost effective manner.

    When advocating open source, what problem are you solving? I used to advocate open source solutions for individuals and companies, but now I just give options. I still include open source options where they are a good solution, but that's not always true. People who like to play the newest popular games should probably not be switching to linux. Part of advocacy is knowing when to shut up. Pushing a particular solution to all problems, regardless of requirements is a major turnoff to pretty much everyone.

  • so how do you tell a .... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by 3seas ( 184403 ) on Friday March 04, 2005 @11:13PM (#11850660) Homepage Journal
    person who has not in their vocabulary the words to decribe what it is you are trying to commnicate to them?

    according to the article you have to speak in their language....

    Hmmmmph....

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