Over two years ago, Dell launched Ideastorm to see what customers wanted. Overwhelmingly, Linux-based systems were requested. Next they asked which Linux distro to use, and voters chose Ubuntu. After selling computers with Ubuntu on them for two full years, Dell has finally gotten around to offering “Ubuntu Linux” as a filter criteria on their main home laptop page. Originally, one had to know to go to dell.com/ubuntu or dell.com/open because there was no way to reach them from the main store. Of course, they still “recommend Windows Vista® Home Premium,” and I still haven’t seen them advertising their Free Software-based offerings anywhere. Likewise, I don’t see any mention of ZaReason or System76 in any big computer magazines, though System76 does seem to have a lot of Google Ads going on for anyone searching for Ubuntu.

We need to let people know about the hardware vendors who sell Linux-preinstalled systems. My personal blog includes a “hardware links” section linking to Dell, ZaReason, and System76 and a badge I made that says “I use ZaReason Ubuntu hardware” is in the sidebar. I remember seeing lots of Emperor Linux ads in magazines, but given their prices and that what they sell are machines that are only sold by the manufacturers with Windows, I get the impression these are simply Windows systems which have been replaced with Linux and are being resold. Since the first sale is the one that counts for “number of machines sold with $OS in 2009,” this seems counterproductive (and expensive) because the companies from which they purchase them count them as Windows sales. That’s also why I advocate against buying a Windows machine and then reinstalling with Linux. Now, I only know of the ones selling Ubuntu because that’s the community I’m immersed in. Who sells machines with Fedora, SUSE, and Mandriva? Lenovo used to sell Thinkpads with SUSE on them (for $89 less than the Windows machines), but they stopped. Sub500 sells Linspire systems. I did find a list of vendors who do not remove Windows and reinstall.

We also need to pressure the others to start selling Linux machines. Dell asked us what we wanted. The others aren’t asking, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be telling. Asus recently dropped their Linux-based EeePC offerings, saying they were unpopular, though James Sparenberg claims local retailers have told him the Linux models outsold the Windows ones. HP and Acer both offer Linux-based netbooks, but if you want a regular 13″, 15″, or 17″ notebook, it’s back to Windows. A If you want a desktop, Windows. If you’re in the market for a new Linux laptop or desktop (or have a friend or family member in need of one), why not give them a call or send a letter asking if you can buy a desktop with Linux on it. Show them there’s demand. Oh, and try finding the Acer Aspire One with Linux on their website. I haven’t come across it yet, though I’ve seen the machine in Microcenter.

OK, how about brick & mortar stores? Unfortunately, when I was in Best Buy the other day, the only HP Minis they had were the Windows ones. I asked the clerk if they had any non-Windows netbooks. He asked if I meant OSX. When I told him “No, Linux,” he said Linux isn’t used in corporate environments. I pointed out that neither are netbooks. We stalemated. He saw me running Kubuntu Netbook Edition (alpha 3) from a flash drive on one of the EeePCs yesterday (hardware testing) and made a comment about the nice thing about Linux being that you can run it off of anything. By the way, you may have heard about 6 months ago that Best Buy was selling boxed copies of Ubuntu that include some weeks of tech support. That is no longer the case. I wonder how much control store managers have over what systems they offer. If any readers ever worked at a big chain like this, please leave a comment. Can we pressure store managers to offer Linux systems, or do we need to go to the corporate headquarters?

I would, additionally, be interested in how guerilla marketing can be brought to stores. Setting up a Fedora Ambassador table just outside the doors might not go so well. They probably own the sidewalk and parking lot. Where your local computer stores are located has a lot to do with the possibilities. In the suburbs, where everyone drives to the computer store and there’s a nice long parking lot between the turn off from the road (public property, where it may be legal in your area to hand things out), it’d be harder. People aren’t likely to get out of the car to take what you’re handing out. I live in a city where most people walk, and Best Buy is located inside a building that also houses Target and Bed Bath & Beyond. I think it more likely that handing things out at the entrance to that building or possibly even inside it would be OK. I see people just outside on the sidewalk raising money for Greenpeace all the time.

If you can’t hand out information about Free Software and Linux-based hardware vendors outside a computer store, find an area with heavy foot-traffic. Maybe the library will let you set something up. Librarians tend to be fans of sharing information. Amber has had luck with getting book stores to let her set out Ubuntu CDs near the Linux books. Maybe you can hand out leaflets or palmcards (¼ sheet of Letter or A4) to folks going into the local high school’s football games, basketball games, cheerleading competitions, etc. The Ubuntu Local Community Team here in Washington, DC celebrates Software Freedom Day at the Takoma Park Folk Festival each September. Find somewhere that lots of people—non-technical ones too—congregate or pass through. Just like in part 1, we want to look at non-technical people. The techies have already heard of Linux. They know it exists. They may have tried it. Now we need to tell the people who haven’t heard of it.

My mom’s pretty good about this, actually. A month after I switched her desktop to Ubuntu, I overheard her telling her friend (whose computer is really old and slow; I think WinME?) about “this Linux thing” I put on her computer that makes it faster, easier, and *gasp* you don’t even need to worry about viruses! I think getting the non-technical folks you know who use Linux to tell their friends is a good thing. It avoids the “yeah, right, you can use it, but that’s only because you’re a geek” reaction nicely.

What else can we do to:

1. Convince OEMs to preinstall Linux on netbooks, laptops, and desktops
2. Convince stores to sell those Linux-based machines
3. Tell people where to find those systems

Leave suggestions in the comments!

If we want our community to grow, we need to embrace and encourage everyone who joins it. If we want our developer community to grow, we need to recognize that the person asking today “how do I get my mp3 player working?” may in a year be contributing patches. Those were a year apart for me. But that becomes less likely to happen if you answer “RTFM n00b!” when they ask that question. They’re likely to think “you know what? These Linux people are jerks. Screw them. I’m going back to Windows. At least I know how to use it.” Is that what you want? Alright, fine, I know there are some of you out there who think they should do just that. Keep Linux all for you elitists who think you know more than everyone and are the only ones with the right to use it. Well that’s bull. Free Software is for everyone. Your attitude is just as restrictive as a proprietary license because it prevents people from using the software the GPL has made free for them.

You all know Bethlynn, who started this blog? Linux sysadmin for over 10 years. She was told in #fedora to “go back to Ubuntu” because Fedora 11 would be too hard for her. Yeah, right. That’s the thing to tell someone you think is a new user: go away, you’re not good enough. And then they wonder why she was offended. Please, does it really require explanation? And yesterday I saw folks in #suse taunting a new user for using the pidgin-facebookchat plugin, saying they must have no real friends if they uses Facebook, then calling them a child for using /ignore. What? This is not how you retain new users! When called out on being jerks, they only said “I am *so* sorry for showing everyone that Internet is not the lovey-dovey place you had hoped for (because it is not, period).” What’s wrong with wanting people in a support channel to be, well, supportive?

I honestly think anyone that can use Ubuntu can use Fedora or OpenSUSE just as easily. So then, why does Ubuntu’s community grow so much faster? I’m starting to think it has to do with the Ubuntu Code of Conduct. The way that user was treated would not be tolerated in #ubuntu, #kubuntu, or any other channels governed by Ubuntu’s IRC Council (except maybe #ubuntu-offtopic, in which case it’d be friendly jests, not taunting someone asking for support). We try to be welcoming to everyone regardless of experience level. For some reason, other communities seem to fight tooth and nail against instituting a Code of Conduct. Why? Some claim it’d be censorship. To that, I’d like to quote Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso:

It is an unfortunate situation that often people when they’re told, “hey, would you please be polite?” they respond with “NO, BECAUSE THAT INFRINGES UPON MY HUMAN RIGHT TO BE AN ASSHOLE!”

I assume the others arguing against a Code of Conduct see no problem with the current situation and are perfectly content to maintain the status quo. The status quo isn’t good enough, people. If you find that there are those in your community who would rather waste time being non-constructive jerks scaring away new users than use even less time giving an answer, call them on it and apologize to the newbie. Do we really want a reputation as a bunch of elitist jerks?

I was talking to Amber after the #suse incident. She’s had a run-in with #fedora before, getting an “RTFM” type response to a question. She told Karsten Wade from Fedora about it at OSCON, and he said Ubuntu has actually helped distros like Fedora because it gets people who would never have tried Linux otherwise up to speed and feeling confident enough to try other distros. Makes sense to me. Amber is also quick to point out that the Fedora Ambassadors are nothing like the people she and Bethlynn encountered on IRC. At both SELF and OSCON, the Fedora Ambassadors were helpful and encouraging. They were talking about how the communities need to work together and stop ridiculing each other and putting users down for their choice in distro.

We need some inter-community collaboration. Can we get everyone, regardless of distro or desktop environment, to agree that new users are a good thing and that we should be encouraging them? Can we get people to do that online, when it’s so much easier than in person to be a jerk without the pesky conscience getting in the way? It’s necessary in order to grow the greater Free Software user community.

1. Those who last tried a Linux distro more than 5 or 10 years ago
2. Those who’ve been told “only hackers can use it”
3. Those who’ve never heard of it

The first group tend to go on about how absolutely impossible it’d be for normal people to use. They sort of cause the second group. To the first, I say: Slackware is not the be-all and end-all of Linux anymore. Try one of the distros aimed at being usable for non-geeks, and you will be surprised. To the second I say: that’s just an old rumour. The current versions are easy to use, and the software will be familiar. Come on, my little brother uses Ubuntu on his laptop at school, happy that he doesn’t have to worry about viruses. My mom uses it at home, glad to have something easier to use than that confusing Windows thing that was always so slow. My friend Cathy’s two year old daughter installed Ubuntu with a little help (she can’t read yet). And I’m not saying “yay Ubuntu, boo $other_distro” because, well, Fedora’s easy to use too. OpenSUSE’s KDE4 is very well done.

But let’s look at the third group. How do they find out about it? I was talking to Bethlynn on the phone last night and mentioned that I really think it’d be nice if a bunch of people got together and each pitched in, say, $5 to take out a full-page color ad in something like PC Magazine, advertising Free Software. She said it reminded her of the National Dairy Council and their ads. But then, well, don’t most people who read computer magazines fall into either group 1 or group 2? Called my friend Joe later, and we talked about non-tech magazines. You know, I bet GRAMPS was never featured in a genealogy magazine, even though the beautiful charts it outputs are the reason a professional genealogist I know decided to take another look at Linux. How about Inkscape? Ever see it mentioned as a great alternative to Adobe Illustrator for those on a tight budget in any graphics magazines? There’s a lot of Free Software out there that’s very good, and writing a software review for a major magazine is likely to put a bit of money in your pocket–as opposed to ads, where you have to pay.

That got me thinking. Do you write articles for your blog, someone else’s blog, an online zine, or a Linux-related magazine? Ever write ones that are “how to do $foo with free software” where $foo is part of some niche interest like genealogy or cross stitch? Wouldn’t the wider community around that interest be interested in software to help them out that they don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for? I think they would. So let’s try submitting articles to magazines focused around those topics instead of restricting ourselves to Linux and Free Software magazines. OK, so those are some good ideas about getting Free Software projects onto people’s radars. But what about when you spread out and want to promote not just usin Inkscape on Windows, but using Fedora, OpenSUSE, or Kubuntu? Then you get a little bit stuck. Writing an article about an OS for anything other than a computer magazine isn’t going to go over so well.

Come back for Part 2.

KDE developers have just elected a new executive council.  Notable as one of the new e.V. council members is usability guru Celeste Lyn Paul.  Celeste has spent the last five years working to make KDE more usable for the masses.  It really shows in current versions of KDE 4.  I found KDE 3 confusing and would give up when trying to change any settings, always running back to GNOME, but now I’m sticking with KDE 4.  It’s still KDE, so it’s still going to give lots of customizations, but it does them in ways that are easier to digest.

Last winter, Canonical‘s Desktop Experience team set about touching up the rough spots of GNOME in Ubuntu, starting with notifications.  Not everyone liked the changes.  At first I didn’t either because of the inconsistency between KDE and GNOME applications, but I have to say, the decision to only show one notification at a time was a good one.  What’s more difficult than trying to read 15 timed  popup notifications at once?  Inconsistency is a problem from a usability standpoint, but now that KDE’s Knotification daemon is able to respond to notification requests from both GNOME and KDE applications, there’s a consistency win.

A new mission in the Ubuntu world is to fix 100 “papercuts” in each release.  This comes from the term “death by 100 papercuts.”  A papercut is a small issue that has a big impact when a user runs into it multiple times a day, or something small that if changed would make a big difference.  Of these 100 papercuts, Kubuntu has made it a goal to own ten of the papercuts this cycle.  The ongoing target of fixing ten papercuts each week is going well.  One I just fixed for Kubuntu (and yes, sent upstream to KDE) is that if you use Firefox, you get a bouncing Firefox icon and a bouncing Konqueror icon when you click on a link.  It’s a simple one-line change to a launcher file, but darn it if it isn’t confusing to see icons for two different web browsers.  I would always be afraid it was broken and about to start Konqueror instead of Firefox.  Other ones we’re working on for KDE include making the Get Hot New Stuff buttons consistent (six different makeshift buttons are used in KDE), getting the user’s avatar in the menu to be near the user’s name instead of with the search box, and changing techy phrasing to user phrasing.

If you’ve used Kubuntu 9.04, you may have noticed that the default IRC client is not good old Konversation.  It’s Quassel.  Why?  Well, Konversation wasn’t ported to KDE 4 yet, and the developers wanted consistency.  So they needed something that used Qt 4.  Quassel was Qt 4, but golly was it made for geeks.  Celeste went to the developers with a list of things that would make the user interface more usable for normal folks.  Since they weren’t designers, they were happy to have some guidance on these matters and set to making it better.  It’s not perfect, and there’s now a KDE 4 Konvi.  So what did we do at this year’s Ubuntu Developer Summit?  We came up with a list of features and usability requirements to give to both groups of developers, in the hopes they’d get up to speed.  What will come of it? Hopefully, they’ll both improve, and we’ll end up with a tough choice between two very good clients.

GNOME, of course, is working on their Next Big Thing: GNOME 3.0.  The discussion in the GNOME Usability mailing list about new, more intuitive widgets is really something.  I’d be interested to try out some of these new widgets.  Then there’s GNOME Zeitgeist, the new tool that’s supposed to revolutionize how we deal with files.  “Where did I put those spreadsheets for work?  Was it Work/Documents/Financial…no that’s not it.  Maybe Documents/Spreadsheets? No…” No more of that. Instead, the context of the file, its data, when it was used, tags, etc. will all be stored to make it easier to find the file you’re looking for.

And really, if you were using Linux in the mid-90s, did you really expect you’d see the day when installation meant clicking (yes! with a mouse!) “Next” six or seven times and only having to give basic information like language, keyboard, username, and password with no questions about DHCP or setting a static IP address, no compiling kernels?  Did you think your computer would respond to plugging in a printer by popping up a notice that it was already configured?  What about GUIs to install drivers for the very few things that didn’t work perfectly out of the box, yet still worked?  We’ve made great strides toward a polished desktop that anyone can use.