[BadVista Advocate] Vista owners

[Michael Fötsch]

Don Hensley wrote:
> So any suggestions would help. That's what I would like to see, a FAQ that is 
> written to show point by point why one not only should, but will benefit from 
> using GNU/Linux and why one should not, and will not benefit from using 
> Vista.

I'm all for it. How do we go about this?

Having written lots of "executive summaries" myself, to make technical complexities appear less complex to managers, I think I'd be able to contribute to this effort. If it's possible to explain to a project manager what an "API" is, it should be quite easy to explain to a Windows user what a "GNU/Linux" is.

Here are a few more ideas, that I think would go well with what you suggested:
- It's very likely that those people who are going to visit the site at all have heard about GNU/Linux before. What they probably heard was that it's only for hackers; that it's hard to install; that in order to install applications, you need to compile them; that the console is the only user interface. You know, all these horror stories from the 90s. ("I tried SuSE 1.0 ten years ago and it crashed. I'm not willing to try GNU/Linux again.")

What we need: Get rid of the myths and show the state of affairs in 2007.

- If someone shows the willingness to give GNU/Linux a try, we need to show them how to do this. It wouldn't be wise for us to try to maintain GNU/Linux installation instructions ourselves, but we can point visitors to the information that is already available elsewhere on the web.

What we need: Provide instructions for how to start using GNU/Linux, and show that it *is* possible to migrate your data from Windows/Mac to GNU/Linux.

- Have plenty of freedom talk, as this is what's unique about the BadVista approach. We shouldn't (only) talk about saving money, or about the technical merits of the Unix heritage.

What we need: Pointers to free software philosophy on the web.


In my opinion, it would be very useful to have a wiki of some sort, which we can use to collect ideas and to prepare the drafts. I also think that the actual FAQ page shouldn't be the wiki itself, but that it should be a polished and edited version of the wiki. This gives us a chance to try out ideas freely, while not scaring off readers with unfinished material.

(Sending drafts back and forth through the mailing list would work, but it's far from efficient.)


How many people do we have here who'd be willing to invest some time and effort? Could BadVista host this?

Kind Regards,
M.F.




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