In a message dated: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 17:58:06 EDT
"Kenneth E. Lussier" said:
>I think that this could be a good direction to go in, not just for
>individual LUG meetings, but possibly for the next large event in place
>of the LBS. Maybe a day long event that has different areas for
>businesses, home use, applications, etc.
I was recently out in Denver for the Colorado Linux Info Quest, which
was a 1-day mini-conference by/for the Col. LUGs. They all got
together and decided they wanted local conference they could both
attend and put on. I think it was pretty successful. Everyone I met
there thought it was a great idea, and there were people from all
walks of life showing up for Invited Talks, BoFs, etc.
We could easily do the same. They charged an "early-registration"
fee of $55, and a "late-comers" or "regular" fee of $85. This was
strictly to cover the costs of putting on the show itself.
>> Be in-your-face-offensive about Linux. Wear penguin clothing and pins, not
>> only to Linux meetings, but to church. I had two people in the Dunkin'
>> Donuts yesterday ask me about Linux, having seen my penguin.
>
>This is where many people differ in opinion. Some will say that the best
>way to advocate is to be subtle and to infiltrate quietly, while others
>believe more in the "in-your-face" tactics.
Well, I think it depends upon the situation. Also, I believe maddog's
definition of "in-your-face-offensive" is not quite what most people
consider "in-your-face-offensive". For instance, I don't think
it includes really being offensive, cursing, berating, insulting,
or harassing the person you're talking to :) I think by
"in-your-face-offensive", maddog is saying don't be ashamed to wear
the Penguin, or to talk openly about it. Don't be embarassed that
you use Linux when you're in the company of other geeks who all
happen to run MS products. But by the same token, don't be a jerk
about it so they get the impression that all Linux users are jerks.
As far as when to be open and when to be quiet, as I said, that
definitely depends upon the situation. If you're in an all MS shop,
you may choose guerrilla tactics to get Linux in the door because you
know the management will never openly let you install Linux systems.
You may have the same problem even in an all commercial/proprietary
Unix shop. However, once it becomes known that you're already
heavily dependant upon Linux, that may be the choice time to openly
begin asking for funding for Linux systems. At budget time you may
want to approach management and tell them that you need $50,000 for
new Linux-based hardware and support contracts to replace the
existing and aging 486/P75 systems that have been running the
environment for 2 years already. And that the equivalent hardware
and support from Sun will cost you $150,000+. As soon as they see
you're saving them real money, they'll open up some :)
>I both understand and agree with this, but how do we convey that message
>to people who aren't familiar with the movement? If the perception is
>that Linux is hard to install and use, and that is why there needs to be
>installfests, etc., and "perception is reality", then it seems to be a
>no-win situation: We hold installfests to show people that is easy, but
>they think that it is hard because we hold installfests. How do we
>advertise the excitement that we have for Linux?
Well, you can invite them to the install fest and tell them you'll
race them. See whose install is faster, Windows or Linux?
It's almost guaranteed that they haven't ever done a Windows install
before. You could stack the race in your favor and use really old
hardware that you know W2K won't support :)
The other message to convey is that we don't hold install fests
because Linux is difficult to install, we hold install fests because
Windows is difficult uninstall or because we're trying to help those
who are not as computer literate as we are learn something new.
Market it as a skills training session in basic computer skills that
just happens to use Linux as the base OS.
--
Seeya,
Paul
----
It may look like I'm just sitting here doing nothing,
but I'm really actively waiting for all my problems to go away.
If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right!
