Is that a live CD in your pocket or are you ...?

A title like that is bound to get your attention, now that I have it, I would like to say something to all of the Linux enthusiasts out there.

Now I ask you, how many times have you talked to a Windows user about Linux this year? Was there any result from your enthusiastic pitch: i.e. did anyone install Linux? Often we don't know. The problem is, without giving someone a tangible item to remember your conversation and or to take action with, we may have wasted time and energy.

We have let an excellent tool for promoting Linux sit there under-utilized. This tool is the Ubuntu Live CD, not the one we can download, but the one that we can order for free from Canonical. The live CD that we order from Canonical comes in a professional looking package -- some effort and expense has gone into producing it. Therefore it can be trusted by a person whom you have just met and happened to talk about Linux with. We can't give a stranger a home made CD. Who in their right mind would boot their computer from a home made CD that they received from a stranger?

Those of us who live in the northern hemisphere are approaching the good ole winter. Most winter coats have large pockets in them, large enough to hold a least one CD. Why not make the most of it? I suggest that all of us order some live CD's from Canonical and carry some with us in our winter coats at all times. This will have a two fold effect: 1. When you convince a person that Linux is a good idea, then you are able to give that person a CD to get them started. 2. If you have  an Ubuntu live CD you are more likely to try to spread the good word because there is a better chance of a favourable result. I would do this even if you do not use Ubuntu but some other distro. Remember it is all about getting more users into the fold.

This worked for me last weekend where I was a volunteer in a booth at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. I got talking to a person working in the booth with me and it did not take long for the L word to come up. This person, who I had just met, was very happy to receive a CD and to learn so much about Linux.

Many large social movements in our history began small and grew to something huge by word of mouth. The free software movement is no exception, we can grow it bigger with just a little bit of effort. Why not make this a challenge within your LUG? You can order a large number of CD's  for the group and divide them up. This would save Canonical some shipping costs.

Tips.
Please place your CD's in a clean plastic bag with some extra cardboard to help keep the cardboard dust jacket pristine.
Don't be afraid to do some shameless self promotion by including a card or placing a label that says "Need help? call Joe Lugnut at 555-5555 or joelugnut@whereever.com".

Also, tell people about off lease computers that they can buy for under $200.00 There are many people who are running old equipment thinking that they can't afford a newer computer. It is time to dump Windows Me folks!

Don't forget seniors, they can be very responsive to this new idea called free software as they are looking for ways to save money and they do not carry Windows "baggage".
Remember that the Ubuntu live CD has free software that runs on Windows so that you can use that aspect to introduce people to Free Software.

So if you feel comfortable with this approach then order your CD's from Canonical. You may want to keep the number of disks down to five or so. I have 28 left out of 30 as I was able to give away two in a week. I hope to have none by the end of this winter.