Steven Shelton wrote:
Second, there are so many scams and
"limited" software packages that promote themselves as "free" that any
software package without a $100 or higher price tag gets a deep level of
skepticism. And, of course, there's the old adage that "you get what you
pay for."
True true. I have trouble explaining to my parents how it's possible
that people and companies give code away. And this is in a house where
two sons are avid FOSS users, there are two Ubuntu Linux computers, and
the Windows computer runs Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice.org and GIMP
(and my parents do use the Ubuntu Linux computers).
So they certainly realize that it's *possible* but they can't imagine
why. And to be fair, I have a hard time figuring it out too. I can tell
you why *I* volunteer. But it's harder to explain (say) a copmany would
contribute.
That's why I really think we need to push the compatibility, stability,
the fact that it has been adopted by entire governments, and the fact
that it can save them substantial money while actually AVOIDING the word
"free".
Or we can all speak Spanish and call it libre the way RMS intended it :)
We can convey the freedom without using the word free. You can explain
"open licensing" for example.
I've been doing a lot of promotion of OOo with some of my
clients, at school, and with business people I know, and the first
comment I get is always "I've always used Windows" (literally, they
don't understand the difference between the OS and the word processor),
My mom understands it, but doesn't pay attention to it. She refers to
any program from Microsoft as Windows, any word processor as Word
(including Writer) and any spread sheet as Excel (including Calc).
It's actually common for people to refer to a generic class of products
by the name of the first or biggest brand. That's why people say Kleenex
even when they buy a different brand of tissue paper. In Venezuela
people say "Ace" instead of "detergent" because Ace was the first
determent company. The same thing may happen with comoditized word
processors. And even in open source. The general public often doesn't
realize the difference between "Linux" and "open source".
the second is "I don't want to take the time to learn something new,"
and the third is (almost) always "I have to send my files to people and
I have to use Microsoft format." If those are the end users, talking
about something as obscure (to them) as open standards is like lecturing
on string theory.
One of the things I love about INGOTs is that it tries to fix the *root*
for the problem, by teaching kids about open standards, compatibility,
etc from an early age.
I had a lot of trouble explaining open standards to my mom until I
mentioned ISO. And suddenly it all made perfect sense to her. Because
ISO is a standards body that she knows, she grew up with and knows what
it does. As an engineer, she dealt with ISO standards all the time. So
when I tell her that OpenDocument will be an ISO standard, it means
something big to her.
The hope is that when the kids get used to it,
they'll convert the parents.
They might.
My parents have been slow to warm up to Linux. But they have. They still
feel unconfortable with it (esp. dad). But less than before. There's
also the fact that Linux has gotten better. My mom used to get furious
when she went to Ale's computer and saw Linux on it because she wouldn't
know what to do with it, and when things went wrong (e.g. won't read the
floppy) she wouldn't know what to do (could you expect her to know how
to mount a floppy?). But those problems have been smoothed out over
time. It's better now. It'll be better in the future.
Cheers,
Daniel.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
