Hi Holden! =) On 9/20/06, Holden Hao <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I have seen the same case in my own organization. When we hired new people we simply told them that we use FOSS and showed them the system. There were no trainings apart from a brief introduction on how to log-in and out, what software to use (OO.org), and where files are located, etc. The introduction did not even take an hour but the personnel easily became productive with the unfamiliar system.
I remember a similar experience when I was asked to deploy Ubuntu Hoary at a school last year, during the height of the NBI piracy scare. The school administrator wanted to have a working computer lab setup without having to buy Windows and Office (yes, cost was a big concern then, as it still is now, ;) so I showed her what the prevailing FOSS could provide at the time. I didn't really showed her what FOSS (in the form of Ubuntu) looked like on a running system; I just told her what it could provide, what benefits there are, and what problems they might encounter. I tried hard _not_ to give a marketing pitch; all I did was to tell her (and the folks who _will_ be using the lab) the whole FOSS shebang, in honest terms. In other words, I showed them a choice. A choice to buy Microsoft licenses, or a choice to compute in freedom. In retrospect, it wasn't much of a choice. But it worked: they opted for FOSS, and promptly had me install Hoary on their systems individually (there was no network setup, not even a fancy computer room; all of this had to be done under a makeshift classroom that also doubles as the teachers' lounge. Good thing they're not holding classes under a tree. ;) The installs went perfectly, and afterward I just showed them how to log in, log out, shut down the system, fire up the office tools, and lock the screen. I remember also installing some of the educational stuff (TuxTyping, TuxPaint) and showing how to invoke them. I also remember some minor borkage (like sudden ext3 corruption) that I fixed (and taught them how to fix it on their own.) I also updated their machines to Breezy on its release. Then, I left them to let them work, and play, and enjoy, free software. I never heard any complaints from them ever since. The last time I was there (just a few months ago) they are still running Breezy, and they managed to get enough funding to build a new computer room to put in the machines, as well as for other multimedia stuff. The money that would have been spent on Microsoft licenses just a year ago, had been put to a much better (and permanent) use. And now they know FOSS just as I do many years ago. It is just software that works for them. It is software that just lets them work freely, and not minding the world obsessed with property. Cheers, Zakame -- Zak B. Elep || http://zakame.spunge.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] || [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1486 7957 454D E529 E4F1 F75E 5787 B1FD FA53 851D _________________________________________________ Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Read the Guidelines: http://linux.org.ph/lists Searchable Archives: http://archives.free.net.ph
