Still eagerly awaiting your separate mail.Sorry as I could not attend the meeting I could not discuss the details you had for me. Sudhir
On Wednesday 03 April 2002 06:31 am, you wrote: > Hi Linux User Group - Kolkata members, > > Firstly, I'd like to begin with a caveat. I am no great Linux champ like a > few on this list. Yet there is I feel considerable need to introspect and > to sum up what the movement has achieved in Kolkata. > > One of the major worries that I see in making is the inability to 'catch > them young'. Take a good look at the schools. Most of them are well > equipped, with proper networked machines, and a nifty infrastructure in > place. Yet when it comes to OS selection, what do they choose - Microsoft > !! Linux, in its various avataars is an 'alternate OS'. Should the primary > aim of the movement be to get past this hurdle ? We all have read about the > investment Redhat & Caldera are making in the education & training areas. > So what's stopping us in providing the necessary technical knowhow so that > tux can get into schools ? The basic advantage of Linux is that besides > development of Software [of which we get to see precious little..], it > allows shell/kernel tweaking. And if we do manage to get into schools, a > whole generation of tux await us. > > Open source initiative lags behind precisely because the massively packaged > toolchest that the 'real OS' manages to churn out. I am not saying that > there is a lack in the number of suites and tools. There is and we all know > it. But whatever is out there, is also known to a handful of people. Do we > not have a sense of duty to spread the word ? > > Meetings are fine. They are required. But we should honestly ask ourselves > the question, do we really possess a centralised database of open source > community users in and around the city and suburbs ? People who can > actually take time and possess the patience of Job to spread the word. Take > a good look at the mailing list. Sometimes it is flames, other wise it is > general chit chat. A few mails are from Sudhir-da about his oh-so-frequent > system troubles. [Sudhir-da, a separate mail awaits you..] > And then we seem to have turned into a regular tech list. We are not the > tech manual for Linux. We are supposed to find ways and means of making the > OS popular. For chucking out the 'alternate' tag and in its place champion > the virtues of the OS. A few developed www.peacefulaction.org - a nicely > designed site. But to what end ? Barring contributions from the founder > members regarding the Digital Copyright Act, how many have actually managed > to take time out to contribute to the forum ? This is not to berate their > efforts, but even after a print splash in a newspaper [was it The Telegraph > ?] a curious lethargy seems to prevail. Does it mean that the charter and > agenda needs to be looked into ? Yes of course. But it has to be discussed > threadbare. And we should come together to redefine the goal for the list. > What are we here for ? Where do we go from here ? And of course, what can > we do to contribute our 2 dollars worth. We manage to get the latest > releases, but the inspirational zeal seems to be missing. Admitted that the > PC penetration is low, but at least there should not be a let up in our > efforts. > > We all know small establishments that need to be wired up, or be > transformed into sentient systems. Why don't we target these ? Instead of > pirated OS+tools+application suites, why don't we offer a 'legal > open-source' stable OS with a plethora of tools+application software that > meets most of their needs ? Alongwith the mandatory Solitaire+Minesweeper > that is the norm ! > > We are the LUG, yet what do we do to get more folks into the UG ? Think > about it. It is time we moved and moved fast. > Best wishes to all on the list > > > Sankarshan > > > _________________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com -- "CLASS MAKES THE DIFFERENCE" TEL:+91-33-237 4172 +91-33-221 5314 -- To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the body "unsubscribe ilug-cal" and an empty subject line. FAQ: http://www.ilug-cal.org/help/faq_list.html
