atheoi / Conrad: I completely agree with you, apart from *all the hard work of all the persons working on the 'background'*, a breakthrough of Linux/Ubuntu to the foreground is indeed for a huge part "*just a matter of marketing*"
So go for it! - Go to your *local* computer hardware store and suggest to add Ubuntu as an OS to their 'pre-install' list with 100$ off on that same computers - Talk to *people* about Ubuntu/Linux about it's strong points: stable, secure, free, fast, growing, - Give Canonical additional idea's on *global* marketing 'stunts' like: * Give a cosmonaut an 'Ubuntu'-sticker on his helmet or something, whatever,... * or sponsor a sports-event by developing & running the statistics programs on Ubuntu servers (like IBM does on some tennist events, like HP does on ski-events somewhere, ...) * just a brainstorm-idea: try to run a project with Swatch-Switserland or something and install Ubuntu on a newly developped Swiss watch with flash-memory & bluetooth-enablement so it's also a wireless memory stick, a remote mail-reader if you're in the neighbourhood of your PC (cfr. a Tux-droid function), ...: this will be in the local news also if you push national press-agencies (like Belga in Belguim,...) to publish it as an article - local newspapers and TV stations get their news-info 80% from there anyway... * or something completely new so people really 'see' it... (just quickly writing this mail in-between a small break of work so no break-through-idea's yet:-/)... *Marketing*!!!! We are too 'friendly' and very honest: this is good, but it may be joined with a bit of raging marketing for the good cause! 2008/4/7 Conrad Knauer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > foosean010: > > Regarding the number of Linux distributions, while there are a lot > (around 350 "active" ones listed on DistroWatch as per > http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20080331), the vast majority are > minor players (just getting started, winding down, niche, etc.) I put > some of my notes about that here: > http://limulus.wordpress.com/2007/06/29/pclinuxos-popularity/ IMHO > there is really only one "main" Linux distribution; that would be Ubuntu > :) Yes, you can find others that do particular things better and/or > differently, but Ubuntu is usually voted the most popular, the one by > which others tend to be judged these days and as a whole it does a very > good job. > > As far as a "COMPLETELY user friendly" Linux distro, I would suggest > calling it 'Utopia OS' since NO OS is "COMPLETELY user friendly". The > best you can do is continually work at it :) > > Regarding proprietary games, with Wine 1.0 coming out soon, I would > suggest that would be a better focus for compatibility than any > particular Linux distro. > > Regarding your point #2, with just a little pickyness when selecting > hardware, Ubuntu is the "superior OS" compared to Windows (*especially > Vista* http://limulus.wordpress.com/2008/04/05/an-unscientific-poll/ ;) > so I suppose that it really IS just a question of marketing now. My > personal prediction is that the third LTS Ubuntu release, which should > be 10.04, will achieve a 'Windows 95' type breakthrough (the oft- > predicted 'year of the Linux desktop'; > http://limulus.wordpress.com/2007/08/13/2010-the-year-of-the-linux- > desktop/) > > I think the trick to getting advertising will be getting the OEMs > onboard. Dell is still being timid about showing off their Ubuntu > systems. If a couple more OEMs started preloading Ubuntu, then we > probably will see some ads going up as they compete with each other for > sales. > > Anyway, just a little closing thought; I am running Ubuntu Hardy (pre- > release) on a three year old computer (2 GHz 32-bit AMD (single) > Processor, 1 GB RAM, 128 MB ATI Radeon 9250-based video card, DVD RW > drive) that is probably worth less than $500 US (including the monitor) > now and yet it runs like a dream; my windows are wobbly, my 'desktop' is > a cube, and when I press super-k I get stars around my cursor (its the > little things that make me happy :) I am not in a constant state of > paranoia over malware, my software didn't cost a large percentage of my > hardware, my documents are saved in formats that I should easily be able > to open in a decade, and there is no DRM to be seen anywhere ^_^ I've > been talking to a young guy who works at a local computer store and he > is just in awe of Ubuntu; its like magic to him ('WOW' moments included: > free cost, EULA (yes, please do make copies for your friends :), LiveCD, > Synaptic, Compiz fun, predictable releases). Once there is a 'critical > mass' of 'average' people who know about Desktop Linux in its current > form, I don't think that OEMs will be able to ignore the demand. > > > -- > Microsoft has a majority market share > https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1 > You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber > of the bug. > -- http://stephanvaningen.net [EMAIL PROTECTED] I am a happy www.ubuntu.com user -- ** Attachment added: "unnamed" http://launchpadlibrarian.net/13160135/unnamed -- Microsoft has a majority market share https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs