Comment 48 for bug 1

This is definetly an education issue. People use excuses like "m$ office doesn't work on Linux", but what about OpenOffice? Well, the problem is that people don't ask the REAL FUNDAMENTAL question about computers - What do I want to do?
They should forget about programs, OS, architecture and EVERYTHING. This way you focus on "I want to make documents and read email" then you can say "Do you want £100 windoze, or free Linux?", then "Do you want 3GHz, 64bit, 2GB RAM PC or 400MHz PC off eBay?" If you go to somewhere like PC World and you say "I want to play games" they will try and sell you a bleeding-edge PC system with windoze xp on it. Tell them you want to browse the web - they sell you a bleeding-edge PC system with windoze xp on it. They make the most money this way, and also there are not that many cheap, low-end computers being made anymore (except embedded, but then they add extras like tiny size which puts the price back up). If there is a slower computer out there, like one designed for thin client use at less than 500MHz which can be sold as an office PC with a free OS then this will be popular.
As far as gaming there is the same fundamental question, it is not a matter of "I have to pay for another program to use my windoze games?" you just just shout very loudly at them "Free Linux + £9 Cedega = £9, £100 windoze = £100. It's cheaper to use Cedega!"
Also, if there was a great portable media computer out there (like the Cowon A2, find it on linuxdevices.com) that SAID it was Linux based then it would be great. The iPod is covered in Apple logos, and I know many people who have switched to Mac because their iPod integrates easily. Linux is all over the place, but because it is so customisable it is usually just in the background with no mention. Sell a Linux media layer as a Linux media player, integrate it easily with Linux and maybe even include a LiveCD and Install CD then you've got a winner (if people fork out money on a brand new architecture because their iPod works with it think how many will install a free OS (dualbooting should be easy to do) on their CURRENT computer to access their all-singing-all-dancing Linux media device!
Anyway, those are my opinions. To anyone looking for something easy to do to persuade people just goet the best looking system you can (XGL, Firefox, etc.) on a laptop with the lowest specs possible and let people see you using the time-saving features of the software. Make sure you have CD images on the hard drive and a CDR drive and discs - when they ask you where you got this thing just tell them to buy Nero and how to write an image. Then right-click on the image icon, select "Write to disc" and say "Or you could just do this."