Sometime or other, I'ld like to help my neighbors on Linux. I could put up a paper on colony notice board, but for the fear of getting mobbed with install-my requests. If I'm willing to provide my services for f(r)ee, I'ld like to select my customers.
An idea that cropped up in my mind is, to have a email-list/ web site, say Linux Big Brother. In all areas, that I could walk to for helping with linux, I'ld go and putup a poster, saying 'This neighbour covered by Linux-Big-Brother' 'contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] with your nature of problem and contact details'
Now whenver I've an hour to idle, I can walk up to the guys house and fix it up.
Of course, this thing has to behave like a movement .. a chunk of big brothers/sisters spread all over the place
Any takers ?
Raj Mathur wrote:
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"Anand" == Anand Shankar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Anand> In various discussions at various forums, one thing has Anand> emerged clearly: The one thing which has prevented Anand> wide-spread adoption of Free & Open Source Software at the Anand> common man's desktop is "lack of perceptible support".
Anand> Though, all of us talk about ample documentation and Anand> mailing lists based support, it is the support from your Anand> friendly PC Technician in the neighbourhood PC Assembler Anand> shop is what most non-IT background people expect. Today, Anand> unfortunately, these are the very people who are holding Anand> away and in a way dissuading people to adopt and use FLOSS Anand> instead. I have spoken to a few "Owners" of these Anand> establishments and found a general lack of awareness of Anand> even the most basics about FLOSS. Therefore, it seems Anand> stupid to blame these ignorant people on the subject.
Anand> Some times I think of a minimalist dual boot 4GB kind of Anand> Linux Partition, which these assemblers can install for Anand> their customers, for their own safeguard. These partitions Anand> will work when the other "Proprietary and Pirated" Anand> partition goes "sick", and they can reduce their support Anand> calls by letting the customer have something to work, while Anand> their "sick" partition gets treated. This way, more and Anand> more end customers, will start getting aware and use FLOSS Anand> as a choice. We can also generate a monthly, Local LUG Anand> approved, Linux Friendly Hardware Component List, for Anand> benefit of these assemblers and end customers.
The first idea (having a minimal Linux partition) is brilliant! How long did you have to spend thinking it up? :) I'm going to talk to my neighbourhood hardware vendor today itself and suggest it to him. Anyone else doing the same?
For the second one, it may be simpler to keep a list of equipment that DOESN'T work with Linux. E.g., such-and-such a modem, this IrDA adapter, etc. Most of us keep buying stuff from Nehru Place, so in a couple of months we could have a pretty good database of what works and what doesn't with our own experiences.
Anand> Can any thing be done to address the situation? Do Linux Anand> User Groups spread over the country have a role to play? In Anand> my personal opinion its "Yes" for both questions, but Anand> opinions vary. Ilugd has been rightly focussing on Anand> Campuses, but I personally do not feel it sufficient.
Anand> I know that the moment you talk of "Suggestion" in ilugd, Anand> it means, "I Volunteer". But let this not kill the spirit Anand> of generating new ideas.
Anand> I have the following to suggest:
Anand> End user support and guidance, more popularly called Anand> "Handholding", can not be expected to be "free in cost" in Anand> general. But enough "Low Cost" resources can be built with Anand> some effort.
Anand> India has seen two very popular similar efforts: (1) Anand> Co-operative Movement, specifically ladies, in Gujrat and Anand> Maharashtra (2) Your friendly neighnourhood Tutor for your Anand> child etc Both are economic activities and no Giant Company Anand> is sponsoring or controlling these activities. Yet they are Anand> formidable economic forces themselves.
Anand> I have a feeling, we can also develop a "Cottage End-User Anand> Support and Handholding" industry. It is here that with a Anand> proper, synergised co-ordinated and popularised effort the Anand> variuos Linux User Groups can be a starting point.
Anand> The Local Linux User Groups can keep a target of developing Anand> at least one person, who can be sighted as a "Neighbourhood Anand> Resource", every 5 km, to begin with in major cities where Anand> LUGs are active. This resource is free to charge a nominal Anand> amount per hour. As time passes by, we can increase the Anand> number of such "Neighbourhood Resources". The Larger LUGs, Anand> can spread their hooks to the community, by encouraging Anand> such "Neighbourhood Resources" to publicise themselves in Anand> whatever way they seem fit.
Anand> We need to also hold roadshows at exhibitions and shopping Anand> centers, be they at schools, Durga Pujas, or any other Anand> community event. It is these "Neighbourhood Resources" Anand> again who can do it in a much better way, than probably LUG Anand> Volunteers.
My personal thinking about this issue has changed over time. Now I truly believe that just promoting Linux without having people understand the underlying concepts of freedom and choice is of limited value. After all, are numbers so important? If they are, they have been growing in any case, thanks to the efforts of LUGs, corporations and interest groups. However, do we really want to promote Linux per se, possibly with proprietary applications running on it?
IMO Linux running proprietary code is as bad as any of the traditional alternatives. Until we can convince people that the Right Reason(tm) to use Linux is because of intangible and/or long-term benefits, we'll just be playing a losing game, with MS, IBM, Oracle & friends dropping prices all over the place to beat the ``Linux is cheaper'' ``myth''. Hey, let's have another TCO study!
I say, don't play the game by the rules of these corporations. Change the damn rules and let THEM play by the new rules. Let MS fight freedom rather than cost. Let IBM convince its customers that WebSphere is a better application development platform despite being proprietary. Get Oracle to fight quick updates, security, stability, ability to remove/customise features and lack of dependence on a single vendor rather than touting the ``Oracle on Linux is cheaper'' line.
Once we start moving in this direction we will switch the new user paradigm from a ``push to Linux'' to ``pull to freedom'' model. (Gawd, did I just use ``paradigm'' in a sentence? Anyhow...) Instead of telling people about how Linux is cheaper or faster or better supported, we should show them the options and let them choose their path for themselves. I can assure you that enough people will want to switch to Linux once the larger issues have been clarified to them. These people will be our support team, our advocates, our fanatics, our representatives, our neighbourhood Linux cottage industry.
After all, aren't ideological converts so much more zealous than those who convert because of money <substitute with your favourite material object>?
Finally, to come to your point :) I agree that, given that people are moving towards Linux for what I consider the right reasons, support is a critical function. Kishore and I were brainstorming precisely about this yesterday evening, but since we didn't have any b33r we couldn't come up with any bright ideas. Would some drunken sot kindly show us the way? :)
And yes, we need to meet, to discuss this and other, event-related stuff. This Sunday OK for all?
Regards,
- -- Raju
- -- Raj Mathur [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://kandalaya.org/
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It is the mind that moves
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