Promoting FOSS to People Who Don't Care

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Sunday January 13, 2008 @03:05AM from the old-dogs-new-tricks dept.

MarcoF brings us his take on how to cultivate interest in open-source software to casual users who aren't interested in or necessarily aware of its existence. Many people simply have trouble leaving their comfort zone of older proprietary software; what's the best way to get them to look at an open-source alternative? "Since most people would rather die than write or study software source code, it is actually counterproductive to promote software 'because you can modify it yourself and be part of its community'. Look for really practical advantages which can be enjoyed every day by the person you want to convince. Start from the actual deep passions, beliefs, interests and practical needs of the people in front of you and go backwards from there, delaying the apparition of terms like 'source code', 'the four software freedoms', GPL, Gnu, Linux, etc."

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best tool for the job please and thankyou by icepick72 · 2008-01-13 07:43 · Score: 0, Redundant

It's the wrong approach to make closed-source users look at open-source alternatives and vice-versa. Instead, give them a list of available tools (both open and closed) that might meet their need. Let them make the decision based on the best tool for their need. Best tool for the job is the way,not good to bring politics into the mix.