Audience targetting at ITEC

[Deven Phillips]

Joel,

	A very good idea!! But, I would say that instead we should hold off on
the Installfest until after the Oceanic Internet Expo in October. We'll
be pretty tied up already. Mayhaps November???
 
	Overall though, I VERY much like the idea!!!


Deven Phillips, CISSP, LCA
Network Architect
Viata, Inc.


joel wrote:
> 
> Heh... this might be a bad day to post this...
> 
> There are a whole lot of people out there with the mindset that if something
> is free, it can't be any good. Most people do not initially believe that free
> software can be as good as the professional software they buy in a store. We
> are culturally conditioned that free means either it's worthless, or it's an
> advertisement for something we have to pay for.
> 
> "Just try it, you'll love it," we say, handing them an installation CD. "It's
> a lot more powerful than Windows." We're right, Linux can do a lot of things
> that Windows can't. For most things, it's a dream to work with. But how many
> normal people (not computer enthusiasts) do you know who would actually
> install a completely foreign operating system on their hard drives? That's a
> big step, and it takes a very brave (or motivated) person to do it.
> 
> What if we were to hand them a disk with programs they could use, right now,
> today, to extend the capabilities of their existing systems? This would show
> them that open-source programs can be as good or better than the software
> they can buy.
> 
> I think we should have a CD of open-source software that works under Windows,
> including the Gimp, Mozilla, Abiword, Star Office... can anyone think of
> other open-source programs that work in both Linux and Windows? They could
> take the CD, play with the programs on in for a while, read some of the
> philosophical ramblings (also on the CD, surprisingly enough ;-), and start
> using open-source software themselves. Then, it's not such a foreign concept.
> 
> This also gives us another opportunity. Instead of seeing ITEC as a one-shot
> deal, we could give them a taste of free software there, and mention that
> we'll be hosting an install-fest next month, if they're interested in doing
> *more* with free software. Not having a date, time, or place for that yet
> could work in our favor, because it'll give us a chance to gather e-mail
> addresses of interested people ("we'll e-mail you all the details later").
> 
> At an install-fest, we could have people installing Linux on their own
> machines, help them set it up exactly like they want it, fix all the little
> problems that periodically surface, and help them through the initial
> learning curve.
> 
> In a few short months, they'll be ours! Mwuahahahaha! >;-)
> 
> --Joel
> 
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