I am not sure who I would direct this to so I figured I would post it out there.
I happen to be at Staples tonight and was talking to a manager I know. I asked him when they would start carrying Linux or open source products. I reminded him that at one time they used to sell distributions (Mandarake & one other I can't recall) and OpenOffice.org. I also know that you used to (maybe still can) order Red Hat through their special order deaprtment. To try and prove his point, he said that OOo never sold very well. I happen to mention that I sold many of them while I was there. He indicated that Staples isn't a leading edge kind of company and that if there was a better market for it (from Small & Medium businesses) that they would likely carry products. I tried to explain that it is the small and medium businesses that are the ones converting to Linux even if just a bit. He mentioned how his brother does the network for one of the car dealerships (McKay Pontiac Buick GMC I think) who has been trying to get Linux & open source in there for sometime. So what the hell am I babbling about? What does this have to do with Linux Fest? Well....maybe we could try and invite some key people from some of the retail outlets - like Staples, Office depot, Best Buy, Future SHop, etc. - (most likely District Managers...I happen to know the DM for Staples...and possibly employees) to learn about Linux...offer them Ubuntu CD's to test on machines at work. Get them at least acknowledging it is out there. I also make it a point to the hardware reps when I go into stores and ask them when they will be supporting Linux and I ask them to move it up the line. I think I am going to order some more Ubuntu CD's and start giving them out as well. Just my ramblings...support it or don't...but take some sort of action! Cameron _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [email protected] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) **Please remove these lines when replying
