I've been messing around with linux now for several
years. Since Mandrake 8.0 I've been using it
exclusively and haven't had a windows box at all,
INSPITE of the fact that I'm (used to be?) an avid
gamer. My experiece with LUGs (SLUG seems to fit this
mold as well) is that they are STILL geared towards
people who are not common users, but system admins or
aspiring system admins, people who are trying to set
up servers, back ends to some enterprise, etc. What I
would call "normal users", people who are interested
in doing things using linux get little help, or rather
get well intentioned but besides the point help.
Everything I know to do in linux I have learned by
myself and after all this time, it is still not enough
to use it effectively.
I was first drawn to linux because it came with free
databases, the GIMP and a myriad other aplications
which I could use to build websites and which I could
never afford in the M$ world. In addition,
politically I'm 100% against the chokehold that M$,
Disney and others want to excercise on freedom and
true inovation. Linux is crucial to thousands would
be game developers, publishers, artists, web
broadcasters, political activists and many others who
would be barred from these endeavors if the
monopolists get their way.
These people need to be included in the community's
efforts and their needs examined and met, if linux is
to fulfill it's potential as both a tool for
democratic and economic opportunity.
I don't know what the answer is, perhaps LUGs should
start dividing themselves into two sections. Meetings
for the so called "geeks" and meetings for those who
are more interested in exploring what is available in
OSS to solve their problems and meet their needs.
Perhaps LUGs should have a sub group for those who are
interested in starting small businesses or advocacy
groups. I guarantee you that there are thousands of
people out there with skills in business, marketing,
graphics arts, programming, webmastering, gamming,
etc. who have seen the potential in linux and would
love to use it as a vehicle to launch enterprises,
projects and even small revolutions, but who just
can't figure out how to work with the community.
Rene
--- Paul M Foster <paulf@quillandmouse.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 09, 2003 at 07:37:17PM -0500, John
> wrote:
>
> > On Thu, 09 Jan 2003 18:46:30 -0500, robin wrote:
> >
> > -> > John Q. Public does not know beans about
> Linux. That is a
> > problem.
> > -> > What is your solution?
> > ->
> > -> I will go on making Linux presentations to
> non-Linux groups,
> > same as
> > -> always. The next big one I have scheduled is at
> an IT
> > management
> > -> conference in Mexico City the second week in
> February. I now
> > do between
> > -> 10 and 15 "Linux demo" speeches per year.
> >
> > Impressive! Speaking of John Q. Public, I get the
> impression,
> > in these discussions, that we often talk about
> "promoting Linux"
> > in a somewhat generalized sense. Seems to me
> that one should
> > think in terms of two totally distinct major
> groups:
> > geeks/techies and desktop users. Not that there's
> no
> > interaction, because there is, but the "promotion"
> needs to be
> > totally different.
> >
> > That's why, when Paul mentioned promoting SLUG in
> an earlier
> > post, I suggested (hopefully without offending)
> that I wasn't
> > much interested in promoting SLUG....at least in
> the context of
> > our discussion at that time.
>
> No offense taken. The bigger issue is Linux, and if
> you can promote
> Linux without promoting SLUG, that's fine.
> Understand, I'd prefer to
> swell the ranks of SLUG via promotion as well. But
> user groups come and
> go, and Linux will still be around when we're gone.
> Linux is why SLUG
> exists, so my allegiance is first to Linux, then to
> SLUG. (My wife has
> some things to say about my allegiances, so don't
> say anything to her.
> ;-)
>
> >
> > To clarify: if we are interested in promoting the
> "helpers"
> > page, some of our target audience will be people
> who are giving
> > Linux a try because they heard it was a good
> replacement for
> > Windows. Many of these people will NEVER come to
> a SLUG
> > meeting, nor should they. As Linux becomes viable
> on the
> > desktop for ordinary people, I think we need to be
> aware that
> > there are people (aka geeks) who are drawn to
> Linux for its
> > technical excellence, AND there are people who
> simply are fed up
> > with MS and are exploring an alternative. Totally
> different.
> > (Somebody with marketing smarts--not me!--might
> also argue that
> > there are distinct subgroups within these two
> groups.)
> >
> > I only bring this up because my thoughts keep
> getting drawn back
> > to the original post by Michael and I think he was
> including the
> > non-geek element in his comments. I assume when
> you give a
> > presentation to a non-Linux group, you are getting
> them to look
> > at a better hammer, and you don't much care if
> they ever join a
> > LUG to learn how to pour steel into hammer molds?
> >
>
> Fortunately or unfortunately, in the present day,
> Linux mostly attracts
> geeks. And our LUG is probably representative of
> that trend-- a lot of
> geeks. However, I think SLUG could be a good vehicle
> for attracting and
> educating newbies as well. We do what we can at this
> point, with the
> people we have: some lists, a website, some FAQs,
> meetings. More could
> be done, particularly in the newbie area. But as has
> been mentioned,
> that probably requires someone willing to take the
> time to give classes
> or take other actions that would promote Linux and
> educate people on the
> subject. I'd like to see such efforts revolve around
> SLUG, but in the
> end, it doesn't much matter how it gets done, as
> long as it does.
>
> Paul
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