Amid the pointless "This ain't gonna work" posts, there are some excellent ideas and guides. This is one such post. Lets disect this and see if we can reach a concensus on them - h

Nice idea, but there needs to be some thought on who exactly is most likely to try linux, and what the benefits for them would be. One, mentioned above, would be people with old computers that are running slow on Windows. Another sell would be security, and that would include computers that are running slow because they are overrun with malware. Maybe people could think of some other audiences and sells. Perhaps there could be a different ad for each sell.

Also, it might be good to mention that linux is widely used in industry and the web, and produced by hundreds of highly skilled software developers, and even that it is the product of a decade-long effort that is now sponsored by some of the largest IT corporations in the world. And then say, "And now it is available to the pubic for free!" Well, that is cheating a bit, but you want to make it sound like people are getting something special. Oh, and don't forget to mention that it comes with an entire suite of high-quality applications.

Another thought: it is possible that you would get more bites if you put a price on it. I say that because the public thinks of software as a product and so might suspicious of a free product. On the other hand, maybe enough people have heard of oss by now that they are curious to try it out, and that could be one way of selling it.

Also, how are you going to present your organization, like are you going to say it is an educational foundation or what? That is important because people use their knowledge of the organization in order to judge its motivations and hence whether or not to trust it.

Well, it looks like I have come up with three different ads. One starts out by talking about the huge problem of security on the web, and then goes on to explain how software that has been developed by a vast international effort is far more secure and is now is being made available to the public in Austin through the efforts of a non-profit institution. The second asks if the listener has an old computer they are thinking of throwing away and then saying there is a better solution, same thing about who developed it and who is providing it. The third starts out with something about how open source software has been in the news for years now with cover stories in major publications ike Newsweek, etc, and now you can try it out, etc.

Another sell could be to small businesses, as there are lots of them, and they have lots of problems.

Maybe have several types of ads, and everyone who requests a disk ask them which one made them decide, and what their situation is (ie student, businessperson, etc), and the focus for a while on the group that turned out to me most interested.

I am also thinking it would be good to do some marketing research, find out 1) what is the present situation for people with computers, like what are their biggest complaints, and 2) find out what different groups of people know, if anything, about oss, positive and negative, and then organize the ads around what you find. The trouble is that would cost a lot of money, but maybe it could be raised.