Mr. Ballew (and all of you for that matter) make some good points. As businessman/social worker type person (yes they CAN co-exist) I would say the problem is complicated. There is the aspect of people, most of which are selfish. The don't seem to care. They just want something cheap that works well. There is another aspect of people being afraid. Afraid of looking stupid or silly, afraid of trying something new they don't understand, afraid of getting stuck, not knowing who to ask for help, etc. There is the aspect of businesses, non-profits, and clubs, etc that need to function together, to exchange documents and ideas. Most people, not knowing how to make it work together just opt out for the easy solution that is most pervasive, Microsoft. >From my talking with people about this issue and how they feel about it (most don't even know what an Operating System is) they are conflicted with one or more of the above issues. It's my idealist mentality that trys to convince them to not waste their money for something that doesn't even work that well. I have pretty much stopped trying to do that, all I get is a blank stare. What I have been doing recently is give them a machine that has been given to me broke (Windows do get broken from time to time) and replace it with Ubuntu. I give it back to them and I usually never hear anything about it. They just start using it! Most don't even know the difference. I replaced the Kiosk in my wife, Vicki's tax office with Puppy Linux, as it was an old machine. People just walk up to it and use it! Until I tell them it's Linux, most don't even ask! If I could do anything I would encourage all of us to continue what we are doing. To continue to work together, to help people out there, to support a distro, to show people options for integrating, to help them find the software they need, etc. We have come a long way in a short time. Even Redmond said that their biggest threat was Linux. Hey, Windows Ultimate has built a Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (SUA), or rather a Microsoft <http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/15468-ultimate-entrp-subs ystem-unix-based-applications.html#> -supported solution to compiling and running Linux <http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/15468-ultimate-entrp-subs ystem-unix-based-applications.html#> /BSD software, or for that matter any software <http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/15468-ultimate-entrp-subs ystem-unix-based-applications.html#> for a UNIX/POSIX O/S. That is HUGE in my opinion. That says we have already made the grade. Let's keep it up and work together. My thoughts, George Mulak
________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Philip Ballew Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2011 7:27 PM To: Ubuntu US California Subject: Re: [Ubuntu-US-CA] Starting Out w/ Linux people dont care as much if a piece of software is open source because they dont know what the source code even means. they want the best and what works for them. at least thats what i find... On Sat, Mar 12, 2011 at 4:19 PM, seidos <[email protected]> wrote: Hey Mark: Qcad and DraftSight are 2d. I already showed my brother 2d open source CAD solutions. He wasn't impressed enough to take them seriously. I would think the loftier ideals of "the source belonging to the people" to be the kind of thing that might convince some individuals to feel the effort in learning something new would be worth their time. But this is pure speculation. Perhaps the community can shine some light on individuals they managed to switch over. I got my cousin to use Linux for his server stuff (I believe he uses Open Suse), but he was already a computer enthusiast. I know some in the ULUG managed to switch over family members that weren't computer enthusiasts, but i don't know the specifics of the scenarios, and why they were able to get the user switch to stick, or even how happy the users are with the switch. On Sat, Mar 12, 2011 at 12:52 PM, Mark Garrow <[email protected]> wrote: Seidos... I was just doing some cad for a friends dash on his RV9 airplane.. Other than QCad I found DraftSight which has a community edition and a pro paid version that adds just a couple of things. On the other points.. the FOSS philosophy might work more now that most everyone are looking to save a buck here and there. On the saving $'s front, many have machines that are older, slow, riddled with (you name it) and don't have the money to buy a new machine and/or can't find the reinstall disks or the money to pay anyone to do it for them. That is an opportunity for FOSS and Ubuntu. Although, admittedly difficult to find these people individually, when you do they're often open to the idea with some hesitation. It's tough to overcome a windows/mac user that has a specific program that they just have to have. Best, Mark Garrow Scunizi / Izinucs -- Ubuntu-us-ca mailing list [email protected] Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-us-ca -- with metta, seidos http://accesstoinsight.org http://fictionalphilosophy.org http://wiki.ubuntu.com/seidos http://launchpad.net/~seidos <http://launchpad.net/%7Eseidos> -- Ubuntu-us-ca mailing list [email protected] Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-us-ca
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