Well said. Sad, but true. It is the whole FUD thing over and over again.
I have family members--successful professionals with graduate degrees--that will trust me with valuable possessions of theirs, and that know I have training and experience with computers, yet if I suggest that I show them Trisquel in a way that won't affect their computers, they recoil with:
"don't touch it, it is working!". "In fact, don't even stand near it or breathe near it or even talk about it--it doesn't like that. Don't mess with the monster and it won't mess with me!"
And they have a point! They never know when the thing will crap out on them, so they better behave! Change is dangerous. Just be happy you have a computer that works at all, they think. So when you suggest switching to Trisquel, you are suggesting they change their computing. They have been taught that change is bad when it comes to computers.
When you get somebody away from a cult you have to de-program them before you can do anything else. Windows/MacOS users need to be de-programmed. They need to be shown the importance of their digital freedom. Then they will want to switch to Trisquel without any convincing at all.
You will notice that Richard Stallman, who has more reason than anyone to show off GNU, chooses to talk about the ideology of the Free Software Movement, the situation people are in, and what is being done to them. He could instead have seminars around the world where he actually boots up and demonstrates the GNU OS and shows why it works better than Windows/MacOS. He can say, "Try it, you'll like it!" After all, once they switch to Trisquel they will stay right? They don't need any ideology, they only need Trisquel.
