Vista is out and the community of GNU/Linux enthusiasts are up on their feet trying to persuade everyone that instead of going with the flow and upgrading to Vista, we should upgrade to GNU/Linux. This wont stop any time soon. In fact, it probably wont stop until GNU/Linux either withers away or dominates the world. The fact is there are more and more of so called GNU/Linux "fanboys" and enthusiasts every day, not less and less. Expect numbers to grow constantly.
But there is a trap enthusiasts may easily fall into when trying to persuade everyone to forget about Vista. It is easy to bring yourself to say just about anything to paint Vista as a piece of something not so nice and GNU/Linux as absolute perfection. It is easy to fall to FUD tactics ourselves to promote our goals. But here's the point. We don't need to go out forging stories about how Vista is crap and all that. Vista should do this all by itself. Let the people have the facts, real facts, and then decide for themselves what they really want. Instead of shoving the Ubuntu download down their throats doing everything we can to prevent them from even having a look at Vista (really, its price tag actually does enough here) we should let them have a balanced look at both and decide what they really want.
I believe this way we may actually have more honest converts than any other way. When people see what Vista really is, what features it has and in what way does it undo those features by built-in DRM they will scream for GNU/Linux. Remember that old plea? "I want it to just work." Well, let them try to "just work" on Vista without being obstructed by some sort of a DRM "feature". Really, Vista should do all the GNU/Linux advocacy by itself.
All we, as GNU/Linux enthusiasts, really need to do is tell people to go ahead and try both (because both will require a leap to buy/download and install, though getting GNU/Linux is way easier and cheaper) and then see for themselves what exactly will just work for them, while in the meantime doing everything we can to improve GNU/Linux even further, to a point where it will be so good people wont be able to resist it. (Just think of all the advanced technologies being developed on the GNU/Linux platform these days. It is no longer just about developing equivalents. We've entered the stage of rapid innovation.)
I promise you GNU/Linux will be winning people hands down by merit alone, no FUD necessary, not even persuasion. When they open their new shiny windows, they will see the beauty of GNU/Linux freedom and desire to have it.
Thank you
Danijel
