It was indeed an awesome meeting in terms of turnout. But there has to be something more to it that can give more to noob gnu/linux users who wants to migrate completely ASAP to fully freedom platforms. The unwritten rule is that if a guy/gal uses linux for atleast a month or so, there is no looking back(i frankly don't know why!). But this fragile period of partial migration is the times when people get fed up on one thing or the other(like codec problem or something else) and goes back to windows. Most people just sit on the new linux installation done by local linux guru because they don't know how to get around.I have seen this phenomenon over and over again. Its appreciable that in most meetings the concept of freedom is raised again and again but usability matters! I guess the ilug meeting needs to segregate mainstream gnu/linux users and noobs. The fixed topic of the day can be raised in "mainstream linux users" group and "teething problems and hit-the-road running" issues can be ironed out with noobs. If all the guys are clubbed into one and a one-size-fits-all approach will eventually scare noobs away from the meeting, if there is nothing on the table for them. Don't get me wrong..i am not gunning for elitism or something..but for example..a new guy drops in to the meeting to check it out..and finds topic "shell scripting" or "into to gtk/qt in C" ..wat will be the effect...
"SHOCK AND AWE" it definitely didnt work in Iraq ;-) JUST MY THOUGHTS.. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://ilug-cochin.org/pipermail/mailinglist_ilug-cochin.org/attachments/20080624/fae728f9/attachment.html
