Why Free Software is a Hard Sell

jeffro writes "Dont know if this has been submitted yet, but the Independent news UK has a rather newbiesh article on the ups and down of Linux software as a free alternative to Windows. "Perhaps Linux shouldn't be regarded as an operating system at all, but more as a sophisticated multi-player game with a large number of enthusiastic players. You can lose yourself in Linux for hours, tweaking here, updating there. It's great fun if you like that sort of thing. But if you need to produce a document, spreadsheet or presentation, you're still likely to be able to do it faster and better by sticking with the Microsoft devil you know.""

Comments

Par for the course

[SirSlud]

> Perhaps Linux shouldn't be regarded as an operating system at all

.. well, that certainly puts it on equal terms with Windows.

Re:Be realistic

[jsse]

Find me three business executives who use nroff to format documents on a regular basis.

I met a number of them from the .com startups last year. I can give you their contact at homeless shelters if you really need them.

How can you sell something that's free?

[J3zmund]

I don't know, but the bottled water industry seems to be doing pretty well...

Re:The quote is a valid quote

[daeley]

don't kow that if you type jan in one cell, and feb in the next, you can drag out the rest of the year.

You knowing how to do that *must* be a drag. ;-)

Also, don't start dragging with just JAN in one cell, 'cause it creates a 3x3 grid with the format:

MARCIA | CAROL | GREG
JAN | ALICE | PETER
CINDY | MICHAEL | BOBBY

Then Alice morphs into the PaperClip(TM) and the spreadsheet style switches to something in 70s style avacado green and forest gold. This will cause permanent retinal damage, so do be careful.