Advertising Linux, and the Results of my Crackpot Psychology Experiment

Last week I wrote an article discussing why Linux isn't very popular on the desktop. I argued the point that people don't value that which comes too easily. And Linux, being free, falls in that category. I then decided to do an experiment - during this week, I advertised Ubuntu to my friends as a posh elitist OS that costs over $500.

The reaction was unanimous:

People don't care.

They were interested in the visual effects and intrigued by the fact that there aren't any viruses. But the price didn't make any difference. This confirms that people simply assume OS's are free.

All of the above means one thing. I officially had my first crackpot theory. Wheeee!

Advertising Linux

So what's the best way to advertise Linux?

My own experience as well as those of other readers suggest this:

1. Be seen is public using Linux.
2. If someone curious asks what's that on your computer, briefly explain, highlighting the advantages. (Another plus: If someone is computer-savvy enough to notice you're using something unusual, they have the right stuff to give Linux a shot)
3. If they're interested, offer to burn them a live CD (explain what an awesome thing a live CD is)

Another important aspect in advertising anything is keeping your power.

When advertising Linux, there's a specific way to do this. Don't be needy. We don't need more Linux users. We like having more users, but we don't need them.

Also make it clear Linux won't try to satisfy all their whims. Linux is NOT Windows. Make it quite clear Linux won't do all the same things as Windows. It doesn't try to.

A reader comment expresses this nicely:

I usually "sell" Linux by saying over and over againt that "Linux is great, it's simple to use, the Beryl 3D desktop graphics is stunning, it's stable, it never crashes, you never have to reinstall it.

But see, you can't have it - you simply don't have enough skill. Not that it's difficult to install or use, anyone can do that. But I don't think you can handle it.

You can't have it, I'm sorry,"

Strangely, this turns them on, and they soooo want to try out Linux. And when they do install it, I never get any complaints about it being to difficult to install or use =)

The message is clear: Linux isn't here to satisfy you personally. It just is what it is. If you can't handle it, that's your problem.

If you can make that clear, you will create happy Linux users. And you will weed out those we don't want in our community anyway.

Next saturday, I'll post more self-improvement material. I've got a real killer article in the works, one that immediately creates positive changes in your life! Until then.

Long days and pleasant nights.

###

Response to readers' comments from last week

A couple of people pointed out "dog's bollocks" actually means "great". Thanks. I promise to never misuse the term again. Cuz that would be dog's bollocks.

No, really, thanks for pointing it out.

---

To all of you who expressed support with my experiment - I love you guys.

To all you who disagreed, I respect that you have a different opinion. (And apparently you're right. And I'm wrong. Sigh. Just don't go around saying "Told you so! Nyah nyah nyah!")

But my heart goes to the rarest of you out there. A very special group. Those who used Windows, then switched to Linux for some months, and then decided to go back to Windows. I really respect you for making an informed decision (unlike most Windows users). I also pity you for not having the great first Linux experience I had. Guess I got lucky with my hardware.

---

vishal said:

(...) problem is that as soon as a person is hearing the word linux...he makes the picture of some dreadfull, hard to use, meant for geeks OS in his mind (...)

Strange. When I mention Linux, all I get is a blank stare. Still, just in case, I prefer using "Ubuntu" when advertising my distro to people.

---

And finally, several readers' comments strung together (slightly out of context):

(...) Linux (...) turns (...) me (...) on (...)

Booyah!

Why Linux Doesn't Spread - the Curse of Being Free

Linux isn't very popular on the desktop. It's a far third behind OS X, which is a very far second behind Windows. Most people cite pre-installed operating systems as the reason. But as a student of psychology, I see something most people don't. There's one big factor in why Linux isn't popular on the desktop. Linux is free. I know this sounds like complete dog's bollocks, but hear me out before judging my sanity.

We can all remember the story of Tom Sawyer. At one point, Tom had to whitewash a fence. When one of his friends happened along, Tom tried to persuade and bribe the friend to help him. Needless to say, it didn't work.

A few moments later, as Tom was unhappily whitewashing the fence, another friend stumbled along to jeer at Tom's misfortune. This time Tom decided on a cunning plan. He ignored the friend, and seemed very absorbed in the whitewashing. Soon the friend became intrigued, because what could be more interesting than talking to a friend? Shortly thereafter, he started begging Tom to let him whitewash a bit of the fence. Tom wouldn't give in.

The friend offered Tom some of his most valuable possessions if Tom would just let him whitewash a little bit. Tom reluctantly agreed, secretly jumping with joy on the inside. More friends happened along, coming to laugh at Tom for having to whitewash a fence. Tom simply did his act, and they all stayed to help whitewash, and paid for the privilege!

The above story illustrates a basic human nature. We don't value things we can get easily. Yet we'd climb mountains, cross rivers and travel across deserts just to reach something we can't easily get our hands on.

The computer world

The same thing applies in the world of computers. Humans are naturally suspicious of that which comes too easily. Imagine you were promoting an expensive brand of champagne. If you were running around forcing free samples into people's hands, they would be very wary. But if you set up a stand where you would offer small samples for $10 each ("Special promotional price! Normally costs three times as much!"), people would see your champagne as posh and valuable.

It's still the same champagne. Yet your presentation radically changes people's perception of it.

Which brings me to Linux. There's one problem with Linux getting to new users. It's free.

That's right. Linux being free is a problem in reaching new customers.

Why Windows pwnz Linux - an imaginary case study

Let me show you an example where Windows is better than Linux (I don't mean better as in actually better :p).

Ignore for a moment all the crap about Windows being pre-installed and such. Let's say you have a computer-newbie friend, called Compy McNewb, who's just bought a new computer and is getting ready to install an OS.

He's got two computer-savvy friends. You, who urges him to use Linux. And another friend, who urges him to use Windows.

Which one will Compy pick? Let's go through the reasoning.

• Linux is being offered for free. Good.
  
• He can get a pirated copy of Windows from his friend. Also for free. Good.
  
• But Windows is sold for over three hundred dollars, while Linux is offered for free.

Here's what Compy McNewb sees. He can get both OS's for free. But one of them is worth over three hundred dollars, while the other one is worth nothing.

"That's not true!" I hear you scream. "Linux is worth a lot! It's just being offered for free!" I know it's not true that Linux is worth less than Windows. It's far more valuable to the end user in terms of getting things done.

But that's not what Average Joe Computer Newbie sees. He sees a free product versus a three-hundred-dollar product he can get free. It's all about the perception!

In the 1970's, a record label in Britain was selling albums containing cover versions of contemporary songs. Although the records sold for less than a pound a copy, hardly anyone bought them and the record company was suffering.

A whizz-kid joined the board and announced he wanted to more than double the price of the records. The other executives were shocked, but eventually agreed to his plan. Within a few weeks, the records were flying off the shelves.

When the records didn't cost much, people didn't value them. The record company was saved by redefining people's perception of their product.

Taking Action

So here I am, wondering how to turn the tables around.

And I've got an idea. In the past, I tried to convert people to Linux (specifically Ubuntu). None of them really stuck. Back then I focused on all those great aspects of Linux. Being purely factual and objective.

But I have since learned people don't act rationally. They act based on irrational emotions - like in the above examples. So here's the question. Could I turn the perception around? What if I presented Linux in a way that makes people drool? Make it look more expensive than Windows, more cool than a Mac, more posh than a ten-million-dollar villa in the Caribbean?

Here's my plan:

I'm going to present Ubuntu as a very expensive posh OS. I'll mention it sells for upward of five hundred dollars in the States. I'll say I managed to get an illegal copy off a Polish guy I know over the internet.

Only THEN will I mention all the positives. Multiple desktops, bullet-proof security, stunning visual effects. Somehow all of it makes sense in the context of a super-expensive elitist OS. I'll see how many people I can convert when advertising Linux this way.

I'll post exactly a week from now, reporting back on how my Linux Preaching v2.0 went. Hi yo, Silver, AWAAAAY!

3 Most Important Things I Learned About Self-improvement

I have been on a path of self-improvement for several years now. In those years, I've gone through many materials. Some bad, most mediocre, some good and a few exceptional. Below, I share with you the three most important things I learned.

1. There's a difference between education and experience

As summarized by Dr. Paul, your intellect consists of two parts. The more left-brained, organised booksmarts - education. And the more right-brained, creative, streetsmarts - experience.

They're two different things and one can't substitute for the other. If you want to learn to play the piano, you can't just read books about it without actually getting out there and I playing the piano. Similarly you can't just sit down at the piano and hope to learn it by simply playing. You will learn, but it will go about a hundred times slower than with some education.

If you are reading this, chances are you are more top-heavy on education. Scary as it sounds, getting out in the real world and doing things is one of the best things you can do for yourself.

You can't overcompensate for a lack of experience through education. Trust me, I tried it. I had spent about two years reading up on how to pick up women. In the end I decided to just go out there and get some practice - and lo and behold, I improved a lot more in a few days than I did over a year of reading about the topic.

2. Defeating procrastination is not about will-power

A lot of people out there are saying you can defeat procrastination by simply trying harder. I found that this isn't exactly how it works.

Procrastination usually stems from two causes. Either you don't feel like doing the task because you think it's boring/pointless/whatever. Or you find the task daunting - you don't know where to start.

In the first case, the key is emotional energy. Instead of "trying harder", you would need to build some excitement or enthusiasm about the task. If it's boring, make it more challenging for yourself. Like the time I had to read a boring book in my english class. It was so annoyingly boring I just couldn't do it.

Then I decided to read the book upside down instead to make it more interesting. It suddenly became fun in a kind of childish silly way. I actually probably read more of the book that way than I would have otherwise because of the procrastination (though it's damn slow reading upside down). Plus the happiness and fun I got from it and took with me out of the class were more than worth it.

If the reason for your procrastination is that the task is daunting, the key is breaking it up into smaller pieces.

An actress once decided to do a theatre play. Until then, she had only done movies. Movies are filmed one short scene at a time, so she felt confident about that. But learning her lines for a whole theatre play seemed really daunting.

The advice she got was to simply learn the play one scene at a time as if they were just short scenes in a movie. After that, all she had to do was string those scenes together and voila! She had learned her lines for the whole play.

Similarly, if you face a daunting task, simply break it up into small pieces and then string those together. A man once managed to eat a whole airplane over the course of several years. You can achieve anything by breaking it down into manageable bits.

3. Self-control is like a muscle

There's a famous experiment that demonstrates this. The researchers took two groups of people. One of them had a bunch of donuts in front of them on the table, and were told that they can't eat them. The other group simply had an empty table in front of them. Both groups had to sit there for half an hour and then do some mentally challenging tasks, like calculations. The second group (without donuts) consistently fared better.

This is because the first group depleted their levels of self-control by resisting the donuts. Or, as I like to think of it, they tired their self-control muscles.

The good news is that just like a muscle, self-control can be practiced and made stronger. As I'm writing this, I've been waking up at six in the morning for almost a week, and am on my way to make it a permanent habit.

I tried waking up earlier many times in the past, but I always slipped. I didn't have enough self-control. The breaking point came when I decided to initially train my self-control muscles on small things.

I would control some impulsive eating. I would take a shower in the evening no matter how tired I was (it helps me sleep better, so it's worth it). I would turn off the computer in the evening and go to sleep instead of browsing the internet aimlessly and consequently waking up dead tired (this was a big one, it took me weeks to have enough self-control to do it).

The point is, if you don't have enough self-control right now to do some things you want, you can strengthen your self-control muscles through practice.

Those are the three most important things I learned about self-improvement. What are the most important things you learned about self-improvement? Leave them in the comments.

The Power of Your Self-image

The term self-image was coined by Dr Maxwell Maltz, a plastic surgeon. He discovered a very interesting phenomenon while working with his patients. With most of them, when the plastic surrery was finished, it helped them immensely. They became calmer and happier, literally a new person. Getting rid of the facial problem helped remove their psychological problems too.

Yet some people didn't feel any different after the operation, no matter how spectacular the changes on the outside. Even though they woke up with an absolutely beautiful face, they still insisted that they were ugly. Dr Maltz called these people "scarred on the inside".

He did some research and experiments, and discovered that everyone carries around an image of themselves inside their head. He came up with a visualization technique to change one's self-image, which he then taught this to his patients along with the plastic surgery. To his delight, it often did more to improve the patients' self-esteem than the actual surgery.

You too can achieve spectacular changes in your life through changing your self-image.

A poor self-image is like chaining a huge lead ball to your foot. It places artificial limitations upon you. This fact has been realized by top athletes and sports teams for years. Visualization is today used by all top athletes to improve performance. They can't allow themselves to place artificial limitations upon themselves - and neither should you.

Self-image guides your actions

Your self-image is like an airplane's automated guidance system. You can consciously override it and act as you want. But whenever you stop focusing on your actions, your automated guidance system, the self-image, takes over.

Although you can act as you choose, most of the time your subconscious mind runs the show. This is where your self-image takes over. It often means you sabotage your conscious attempts
to achieve things, only to be consistent with your poor self-image.

Your self-image is basically the total sum of all your beliefs about yourself. Most of them are unconscious and were programmed into you during your childhood. The trouble is that a lot of the beliefs are less than helpful.

The average western parent criticizes their child 8 times for every time they praise them. No wonder a lot of people develop a negative self-image that prevents them from achieving their best in life.

In professional running, there was a barrier for several years called the four-minute mile. Runners didn't seem able to run a mile in under four minutes, no matter how hard they tried. Some athletes even started believing that a human would explode if he ran a four-minute mile.

Then, one day, a man ran a four-minute mile. In the next month, dozens of athletes managed the same. Over the next year, over a hundred people ran a mile in under four minutes.

They had all held a belief that running a mile under four minutes isn't possible. It took one man to show them the truth and shatter that negative self-belief. They could have run the four-minute mile all along, but their poor self-image was preventing them from doing so.

Correcting your negative self-beliefs

The first step is to find negative beliefs you hold about yourself. Then either get rid of them, or replace them with positive beliefs.

The trouble with finding your negative self-beliefs is that most of them are subconscious. In fact, your mind goes to great lengths to protect your ego, and hides your negative self-beliefs from you.

Many high-achieving individuals have a poor self-image. They try to make themselves feel better by making more money, being more famous or having a hotter girlfriend. Yet on the inside they still feel inadequate. They are driven to achieve more, only to try to prove to themselves they aren't as unworthy as they feel on the inside.

I have been there myself. The worst thing about it is that one doesn't even realize that he has a poor self-image. For many years I went on living thinking I was doing fine (while feeling bad most of the time - but I didn't realize that since I had no base of comparison). I had held negative beliefs about myself and I had absolutely no idea they were even there.

Thankfully I stumbled across some self-help materials. In those I found a lot of methods for discovering my negative self-beliefs. I have since then done a lot of research and talked to many people, and discovered the most effective techniques for finding your own negative self-beliefs. I share these techniques with you below.

Finding your negative self-image

One thing our mind does to protect our ego is to pretend that the opposite of our negative self-beliefs is true. So a person who feels poor on the inside might work hard, get a big house, a new car and buy expensive jewelery. Yet they will still feel poor on the inside.

Similarly a hooligan might shout at people and act all strong and tough. In reality he will be compensating for feeling weak and helpless on the inside. Real strength looks like James Bond, not like a hooligan.

Thus, the first method for finding your negative self-beliefs...

1. Find where you compensate for inner beliefs

It's important to remember you're only compensating for your negative self-beliefs, not for who you actually are. So if you find that one of the beliefs you compensate for is "I'm a loner", it doesn't mean you are. It means you hold that negative belief, and acknowledging that you hold the belief is the first step towards letting go of it.

I'd like you to ask yourself the following questions and write down the answers to find where in your life you compensate for negative self-beliefs:
- What is it that you want people to notice about you first?
- If your life were trying to prove something about you, what would it be?

It is important that you take time and write down the answers. This lets you put the negative beliefs down on paper, instead of letting them hide in your subconscious mind. You can then tackle them more easily.

When I first asked myself those questions, I found some interesting things. I had read some books about body language and what confident posture looks like. Upon performing this exercise, I realized I was overdoing the body language. I was compensating for my feeling of not being a confident person. I was walking a bit too upright, my shoulders pushed back and my chest pushed out a little bit too much. Try-hard, if you will.

I also noticed that I didn't feel the need to compensate for things I felt confident about. I was great at mathematics (and still am), but I didn't feel the need to go and tell everyone I met.

Another thing we do with our negative self-beliefs is turning them outwards. We hate those bad things we believe might be true about us, but instead of hating ourselves (or rather who we believe we are), we turn our hate towards others. This is called projection.

2. Find what traits your are projecting onto others

Projection has two opposite sides, like a coin. On one hand, we hate people who have traits that we fear might be true about ourselves. On the flip side, we idolize people who have traits we wish we had.

For example you might idolize a person who is great at public speaking. This would mean your negative self-belief is that you will never be a good public speaker. This negative belief prevents you from getting out there and working on becoming one, so instead you idolize someone who has that trait.

I'd like you to write down answers to the following:
- Who is your least favorite person and why?
- Who do you idolize, and what do you like about them?

When someone does this exercise for the first time, the natural tendency is to go "But of course those things aren't true about me! That's ridiculous!". I had the exact same reaction myself. But deep down it kept bugging me, and over the next few days I realized that the things I hated most about the person were exactly what I feared had been true about me all along.

Getting rid of your negative beliefs

Dr. Paul Dobransky describes beliefs as data that's superglued to the floor of our mind with emotion. The difference between any odd idea and a belief is the emotional part. This is what makes beliefs hard to change.

Our beliefs have a way of clumping together in our minds. Firstly, a new belief is formed and sticks to the floor of our mind. Then, whenever supporting evidence arises, it attaches itself onto this belief. Over time, the belief grows into a huge mass that exerts strong influence over our mind.

Psychotherapy gets rid of your negative beliefs by severing the emotional connection. It cuts off the superglue that holds the belief to the floor of your mind, and the whole mass can be then lifted off easily. The technique used is called EMDR and can be only done by a licensed therapist. You can find one in your local area if you want.

Another way to get rid of the negative self-belief is to start a positive self-belief instead and build it up until it's bigger than the negative belief. If someone called you and told you you have to pay
€ 250, 000 you'd likely get hit pretty hard. On the other hand if he told you "You have won €1,000,000 in a lottery. Oh, and by the way, you have to pay a €250,000 tax." you wouldn't worry too much. The difference here is that the large positive impact of the million far outweighs the inconvenience of having to pay two hundred and fifty thousand 250,000.

If you build up your positive belief to the point that the clump in your mind becomes far bigger than the old negative belief, the negative belief will break off bit by bit end eventually fall away completely.

The trick is to plant the positive belief and then clump on loads of supporting evidence instead of waiting for evidence to happen. Although the belief might feel weak and shaky at first in the shadow of that huge blob of negativity, it will soon become the dominant belief.

Here's what I'd like you to do right now.

1. For each of your negative self-beliefs write down a corresponding positive belief you would like to replace it with. (For example "I am weak and helpless" -> "I am strong and powerful")

2. Next find 5 times in your life when the positive belief had been true. In the above example you maybe stood up to someone or spoke your mind despite facing disapproval. Write down those five occurrences next to each of your positive beliefs (a short bullet point to remind you of the
incident is enough)

3. This last step will be done when you can take some twenty minutes to relax comfortably. In the evening before going to sleep is ideal.

Go over the list of your positive self beliefs and the incidents to support them. Pick the first incident. Close your eyes and lie down comfortably. Go back in your mind to the time where the positive belief about you had been true. Watch yourself go though the incident.

Now step into yourself. See the memory through your own eyes, hear it through your own ears and relive all the feelings associated with it.

Next, turn up the intensity of the memory. Make the colours brighter, the sounds louder and the feelings stronger. You might want to add a soundtrack to the memory to make the emotions even stronger.

Let it really sink in to you that this is who you are.

Now repeat the process with one incident for each of your positive beliefs, or more than one if you wish.

If you want, you can also turn your new positive beliefs into affirmations. This step is optional, but it makes a huge difference when done right. There is a special way to phrase affirmations, and I will discuss them in a future post.

Enjoy your new positive self-image and what it brings to your life. Experience your own "four-minute mile".