I was reading chapter 2 in the Getting Real book http://gettingreal.37signals.com/thanks.php and came across the section about having an enemy which is something we are dealing with.
Our competitor has 6 years on us and they have a great name in the marketplace. We have some distinct advantages over our competitor but nobody really knows about us. We are a free product so we don't have a big budget. What are the best channels to pursue for identifying our advantages over the competition and getting people to take notice? Also, I'm generally non-confrontational.
Don't take Getting Real as some sort of gospel; it's a aphoristic collection of anecdotal observations based on limited experience and selective recollection. That's not to say it isn't useful, but it's just one data point among many.