LeFantome

Me too. I am already enjoying the discounted Intel laptops. They will really come down when macOS 27 comes out and OpenCore Legacy Patcher stops working on them.

There should certainly be some good desktop deals this Christmas for sure.

Do you have a spare SSD? Throw Linux on it and try it out for a while. You can always go back.

Who told you that?

How do you propose to do that?

Let’s say there are 2 billion desktop computers in the world and that Linux is installed on 3% of them.

That is 60 million Linux desktop users.

That is more than enough to sustain a vibrant ecosystem. Linux does not really need more market share to keep being an excellent option.

What happened to the Internet? Reasonable people everywhere.

Yes, I think that the skepticism towards systemd was deserved even if we have to acknowledge that it also brought improvements in some areas.

I also concede that actively supporting a distro like Debian is important for the role they play in the ecosystem, regardless of the software overlap with other distros.

I too was oversimplifying obviously.

Thank you for the reply.

It is a matter of emphasis I think. Do not imply that they will have to switch.

I think it is important to say that there is software for every use case on Linux. Because, while all know the few cases that are "less" well covered, it is absolutely true these days that, no matter what you want to do, you can do it on Linux. In many cases, the apps you use today are available on Linux too. Emphasize this first for people who are just forming an idea of Linux in their mind and maybe wondering if it could work for them.

After you have done the above, be honest that, not all the same applications are available. It is common that Windows users moving to Linux will have to find alternatives for some of the applications they used on Windows. Do not hide from it. But don't lead with it either.

Finally, it is ok to mention that "in some cases", Windows applications can be used on Linux through emulation. I would give a huge "for example" many Windows games work on Linux SteamOS and Proton. Maybe link to the list. However, how likely this is to work varies from application to application. For most software, it is better to find native alternatives.

It starts off strong: "Upgrade your software, not your computer". This is a great slogan that says exactly the right thing.

That said, I do not think the message should start off with such heavy fear-mongering. "Your computer is toast" is too much. A lot of people are going to immediately discount everything you say after that as biased and untrustworthy. Too much, too soon in the pitch.

Simply start off by saying that Windows 10 EOL is coming October 14. Simple. Factual. Accurate. Potentially educational. Ask " Did you know that a new computer running Windows 11 is not the only option? Installing KDE Plasma and Linux on your current computer may be a better choice." Honestly, it should be about as long as I have written here and then get into the benefits.

The emphasis should be on selling Plasma and Linux, not on bashing Windows. That said, the "what you will miss" section does raise good points that should be much earlier in the pitch. Switching means "no ads", "no registrations", "no subscriptions", more control over updates and app choices, less spyware, and fewer viruses. Again, you do not have to directly slam Windows, just emphasize that these are benefits that Linux / Plasma user enjoy. I would not say "what you will miss". I would say "what will you get".

I think it is not only ok but important to be honest that switching will take some effort. Highlight that, no matter what you use your computer for, there are apps available for KDE and Linux to do what you need. In many cases, they are the same apps you use already. However, it will also be common that the Windows apps you use today are not available and you will need to use something new. You do not have to hide from that. But do not make it sound so scary or even inevitable. The last person that I switched to Linux used Thunderbird and Firefox as their two most used applications. Most of the rest of what they did (other than printing) is web based. For them, the switch was not about using new applications at all. A better approach may be a sister site asking what software they use now and identifying alternatives so they can self-assess how difficult a transition might be. If this is done, it should be a in a resources or next steps section at the end. Do not link them away from the pitch.

Absolutely say that many Windows games run on Linux via SteamOS and Proton. Gamers are a big demographic.

It is at this point in the presentation that I would emphasize more strongly that staying on Windows 10 is not really viable longer term. People will have to switch, even if it is to Windows 11. Do you you want to switch your operating system or your computer? Get back to that excellent tagline. I think this question hits harder after you have done some convincing that KDE / Linux might work for them. There are benefits to moving to Linux. You cannot avoid the pain of leaving Windows 10. If you are going to go through a disruption, now is the time to try an alternative. And with that thought, really drive home that the economic side of the equation. On Linux, nobody will force you to pay for software unless you want to. On Linux, nobody will force you to buy a new computer unless you want to. Time to say no to Microsoft and take control of your computer. You cannot send this strong message until you have made people "feel" why they would want to.

The "for the technically minded" should be near the end. I think it is fine to mention it. Perhaps the spin should be that you will never outgrow Linux as even very technical users will find all they need. In fact, most of the technology industry and "the cloud" are driven by Linux already. It could be spun less as "Linux is really complicated" and more "those in the know have already made the switch". Then emphasize again that it is friendly enough for everyone. And then maybe finish off with direction on how to get started and where to get help.

Overall though, great to see the Linux community trying to take advantage of this opportunity. The message will reach some people. Even the Windows magazine article slamming the KDE initiative is marketing that will educate more Windows users that there even is another alternative. Great stuff.

Good luck with Debian. Trixie is looking quite nice.

Does your distro use systemd? wayland? gnome? glibc? gcc? flatpak? If so, Red Hat has a lot of influence on the evolution of your distro.

Shills or no shills, using Debian does not reduce your reliance on Red Hat software all that much. Well, stuff like the above at least. Debian ships a lot more software than RHEL does.

With Leap 16, SUSE are dumping YaST (their signature software) for Cockpit (largest contributor is Red Hat) and moving to Wayland exclusively (a Red Hat project) and Pipewire (same). I mean, these are objectively good moves but they also make SUSE more like RHEL. So jumping to SUSE is not exactly jumping off the Red Hat train.

I would say the same about Arch but it is certainly possible to run a less Red Hat centric stack on Arch (though you are probably using glibc and GCC on Arch for sure and there is of course the problem that a significant percentage of the Linux kernel is Red Hat code).

Anyway, I have no intention of shilling. I am not here to make you like Red Hat. However, I also think not being idiotic means acknowledging facts.

I do not use any Red Hat distributions (not RHEL, not CentOS, not Fedora).

Red Hat is one of the largest contributors to glibc, gcc, GNU utils, systemd, ext4, Btrfs, SELinux, RPM, and GNOME. I generally try to avoid all those. However, I acknowledge that I am a heavy user of Red Hat software.

Red Hat is one of the largest contributors to Xorg, Wayland, Mesa, KVM, libvirt, dbus, podman, Pipewire, Cockpit, NetworkManager, and Flatpak. I use all of those a lot. Oh, and Red Hat has been one of the top 4 contributors to the Linux kernel for something like 20 years now. I use the Linux kernel.

If you want to avoid Red Hat software (something I see people claiming they do from time to time), you have to stay away from all the software listed on this page: https://www.redhat.com/en/about/open-source-program-office/contributions

I am ok if people dislike Red Hat and want to avoid them. I am not a user. I am not a shareholder. However, I find it hard to ignore when people claim that they DO avoid Red Hat when I know that they are knee deep in software written by Red Hat. It also bugs me when people I doubt are contributing any code rant that Red Hat are freeloaders. I do not agree with all of Red Hat's vision for Linux and do not love or all the ways the influence the Linux world. I do acknowledge their contributions and am thankful for the software that I use.

All that sounds like “I would live for my family”. That is not what was said.