How many people did you convert to Mint??

[Leo Ghost]

I've come to realize the most I can do is actively encourage people to try a Live CD. If the OS is for that person then they will make the choice to ask how to install it. If that person isn't ready (or just isn't interested at all) there's nothing I can - or should - do to change their mind. Windows, Mac, and Mint users alike are all humans after all.

In total I have gotten three people interested enough to try it, and that's fine by me.

[mzsade]

A friend of mine of runs a computer class where he teaches Computer Hardware and Networking, prepares candidates for MCSE, MCNS, CCwhatever, also gives corporate training for System Administration and Network security etc, in short, rakes in the moolah. Point is i asked him yesterday, to send out feelers among his students to see if anyone was interested enough to pay for a basic Linux Desktop level course with Linux Mint as the example, i would gladly do it for free but don't have the equipment or space, and i can't use his for free..wish me luck, i couldn't even get my brother interested enough.

[JonM33]

None. Zero.

I learned to use Linux for me -- call me selfish, then -- not so that I could spend time trying to convince others to follow suit.

I'll let other people make up their own minds about what they want to use. They've got brains.

My friends and family include Windows and Mac users who are perfectly happy with their choice of operating systems. They know I use Linux, they understand many of the reasons why, they see my operating systems and desktops and they know Linux and Mint are good choices. Just maybe not their choice.

Linux isn't for every computer user, and Mint isn't for every Linux user.

Wow, can't believe that I read this. What is for every computer user then? I've seen your "hate" of Windows. So if it's either Apple or Linux then which do you feel based upon these choices?

[grey1960envoy]

To date I have gotten 4 people to use mint as their main (or only) OS my wife, Me, myself ,and I,and in my little world THAT IS ALL THAT MATTERS !!!LOL

[Angtagapagligt]

Great!

[willie42]

A friend of mine of runs a computer class where he teaches Computer Hardware and Networking, prepares candidates for MCSE, MCNS, CCwhatever, also gives corporate training for System Administration and Network security etc, in short, rakes in the moolah. Point is i asked him yesterday, to send out feelers among his students to see if anyone was interested enough to pay for a basic Linux Desktop level course with Linux Mint as the example, i would gladly do it for free but don't have the equipment or space, and i can't use his for free..wish me luck, i couldn't even get my brother interested enough.

I think that is Wonderful.....A great Idea. I have tried to figure out a way to distribute Mint... I dont have many friends because of my strange work schedule :0)

[mzsade]

@willie42 Was a good idea wasn't it, but sadly as it turned out, no takers..I think i will just distribute LMDE DVDs this Christmas among my very few friends (and that is not because of any work schedule but my abrasive personality )

[jesica]

just one for me

[JonM33]

I have gotten people to try it as well as Jolicloud. But I don't think anyone has permanently switched. That or they tried it and Linux lacked some things they needed that only Windows could provide.

[willie42]

I have converted a few but I think it best that I just stop trying and when people and ask me my solutuions then I tell them what I use then let me come to the light on their own.

[JonM33]

...I tell them what I use then let me come to the light on their own.

Does this "light" have comparable (if not worse than) driver support to Apple Mac OS X?

[willie42]

Well on my system I have experienced no Driver issues. and if they want help setting it up I can do that. On the ones I installed Mint on I have not had any driver issues and if there is I will help them. Help them free them selves from Windows.

[JonM33]

Well on my system I have experienced no Driver issues...

Irrelevant to the many people that do.

[tacoz]

I've been using Mint since I received a promo CD with Mint 3.0 from a local Linux systems company [http://www.tangent.co.za/].

By the end of 2008 I had three work colleagues also working with Mint. I decided that a fun goal for 2009 was to get at least one person a month to plan-A: to run Mint as localhost or alternatively plan-B: to dual boot Mint and Windows. By the end of the year I had one plan-A convert and seven plan-Bs. I still continue with those goals. The first four months of this year where really good... I had three new users a month. Coincidental but it was enough to keep me distracted with some real work and IT projects in the work place... and the next few months were really quiet and then August arrived.

One of the deliverables of one of our projects was the resale of about 200 old PCs. There was debate on how best to wipe the hard drives of any business content and how to provide a default OS and ensure that there was no opportunity of 'partition recovery' utilities recovering said content. My suggestion was, "Hey... like why don't we just install... Linux? Then the machine is not only repartitioned and reformatted but the user will also get a stack of free stuff... like Office... and no virus hassles..."

Well to cut a long story short... in Richards Bay--which is in the heart of Zululand, South Africa--by the end of September this year there were 200 hundred old machines with Mint installed that were auctioned off. I have not got real numbers... but from what I've been able to extrapolate from support calls to our local HelpDesk, it would seem that round about 50% of those machines were either reinstalled with XP or Win 7 and about 30% were reinstalled with Ubuntu. The point is... it would seem that there are about another 50-70 users out there who are using Mint for the first time this year!

[jxgreat]

just one from me but now he is trying to move to windows.

[renzokukenreddragon]

Temporarily five, which then dropped down to two regulars and two intermittent users.

I was using Mint when we started a computational physics module on my degree programme. The course involved connecting to a CentOS server from a mess of software stitched together in Windows to get access to where we'd be coding. Needless to say, I just SSHed straight into it with full X tunneling with no further software required. That's when I introduced my friends to Mint so they could do the same.

Since finishing the course last year, two continue to use Mint as their main system. One of those guys is Japanese, and resents having to pay a lot of money to add full Japanese support to his Windows installation. He's also a regular coder, so Mint is great for him.

The other two use Mint when they want some scientific software for free, or need to SSH into high performance computers, but generally stick with Windows for their daily computer usage.

I've been lucky to have a very specific platform from which to bring people over. For logging into a Linux machine, another Linux machine is easier than Windows. Not many people routinely have this requirement though.

[Bolle1961]

I convert no one
I tell people what the benefits of Linux for me are, and can mean for them. if they're interested i can give a demonstration with my computers.
if they're still interested i give them a cd / dvd so can play with a live cd / dvd or even install it. if necessary i'll help them installing Linux, Mint, Debian or even ubuntu, what ever they want

[daemox]

I've gotten at least two new people to use Linux (specifically) Linux Mint on a regular basis. Apart from that I have a feeling I have also helped many others stick with it and maybe even come to it via my site.

I'm slowly working on a couple others, but time will tell. If STEAM ever comes to GNU/Linux (as Phoronix keeps saying it will) I'm sure I'll be able to get a few more right away.