Slashdot Mirror
Linux Demo Day Advocacy Event
Thanks to Deepak Saxena for forewarning us about the Feb. 17 Linux Demo Day Event. He writes "On February 17th, Microsoft will be releasing Windows 2000, the next version
of their enterprise/business OS. I propose that the Linux community take
this opportunity to inform as many people as possible about Linux by having
demonstration/education events. To help in doing so, I have organized a
group of Linux vendors who are willing to help LUGs and individuals by
providing freebies that can be handed out. For more info on how to
participate, go to www.linuxdemo.org "
It's great that we have people who want to support and encourage the use of linux, but I think that the timing here could have been better. Why compete like this - wasn't the whole point of linux simply building a better product and letting the consumer / marketplace decide?
When we see the new XFree and we see big companies like Creative come over to the linux world then we will see the average user using linux.
But like the easiest to install distributions. Why would the average user need an HTTP, FTP and Telnet dameon running? A security minded version of linux protecting the not so keen user of linux from outside troubles is what we need. Corel Linux has a nice pretty installation, but it also puts ProFTPd, Apache, Sendmail, and Telnetd on right at installation. And Root and whatever other user you choose are given no passwords until you set them. Yep that's right ... all those services running with Root with no password.
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
As for media coverage and the issue of stupid people, I am specifically asking people to behave in a proper manner. We don't want people running around making fools of themselves trying to advocate Linux. We don't want people who do nothing but say "Microsoft bad. Linux good." It's up to each LUG to try to inform their membership that this is meant to be a well organized, well presented event. Hopefully some idiot won't fsck it up.
The goal is to educate people that there is an alternative. I don't want Linux to be shoved down everyone's throats, but just to let people be aware that there is something other than what the big media machine tells you there is. I don't want Microsoft to die, but I do think there are a lot of small/medium size companies that will just get caught up in the Win2K hype and spend gobs of money to get it up and and running without ever knowing what alternatives exist. Maybe some of these people know that Linux exists, but how many of them do you think have given it a test drive on their own? Probably not many. I'm not trying to go into Intel or some other large company and talk them out of using NT. It's the small companies, with limited funds, that really need to learn about Linux. The idea of an OS upgrade will already be in their mind due to the Win2K release hype, so why not take the opportunity to show them some alternatives.
--
Deepak Saxena
Deepak Saxena
"Computers are useless, they can only give you answers" - Picasso
There is ABSOLUTELY no point in having a Linux Demo Day that starts at the same time as Windows 2000 is officially rolled out. That's not where the press will be.
Yes, you absolutely want the event to go -through- the roll-out, but you really want to start the day before with a massive campaign to the press.
That way, come the release of Windows 2000, eyes are on Linux, -not- Bill Gates or whoever Microsoft decides should make the press announcement.
The newspapers and TV stations only have so much space/time to allocate to computer news, so the more you can shift the focus to Linux, the less time (and therefore mindshare) Windows 2000 will get.
Just keep in mind, Microsoft has the advantage of numbers. But numbers really don't count for much in a well-planned ambush, and don't count at all if you can be sure that you can strike first.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
You do realize that this event further perpetuates the notion that GNU/Linux exists because of Microsoft, not despite. This is really unfair to many of us. A teacher at my school has a rather faint idea of what the operating system is about. He thinks it is for people who hate Microsoft. I fear he may be right.
I must ask. What does Microsoft have to do with GNU/Linux?
I can see that much of this event has already been planned. Perhaps it would be wise to have the attendees of this event wear formal dress.
It is also notable that actually most people interested in computers at all usually already know what GNU/Linux is, or rather "Linux". But many of them think is an operating system from people who hate Microsoft.
I sincerely hope that this event becomes a Pro-GNU/Linux event instead of an Anti-Microsoft event, but it seems like you are setting yourselves up easily for the latter.
Microsoft has nothing to do with GNU/Linux.
Face facts -- aside from a different approach to development and marketing, Linux and Windows are the same thing: operating systems. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. If one or the other were to just disappear, some tasks would not be performed well when the other stepped in to fill the gap.
While I spend most of my time in Linux, simply because I enjoy using it more than Windows, it's not all things. I'm limited in my ability to surf because of an underpowered browser (Netscape) and a lack of plugins (Macromedia Shockwave and a workable Realplayer, as well as Windows Media Player formats that nothing in Linux can handle).
I do a lot of webpage design, and Linux has serious shortcomings in this area. While I can code by hand in any text editor, or use Bluefish, it is simply more practical to use Homesite in Windows.
Office software is another area sorely lacking. Staroffice comes close to filling the bill, but in a world where MS Office has set the standard, asking users to trust their productivity to underpowered and incompatable Linux equivalents would simply be wrong.
And such a rally would do nothing to correct this situation. Constant bashing of MS has done nothing in the past. It's preaching to the choir when done in venues like /., and makes Linux users look like Trekkies with their rubber ears and toy phasers when done in public.
Time should be better spent writing code for Linux. See something that's lacking? Create it, or improve on what's already available. That is the whole idea behind Open Source software. Windows got to where it is partly because it does what people want it to do. As buggy as it might be, if it didn't fill a need, no amount of monopolistic practices would have caused it to spread the way it has.
I have no desire to turn on CNN the day of the W2K release and see a bunch of Linux Geeks who can't get a date and have too much time on their hands waving stuffed penguins and burning Windows CDs. I would rather be able to walk into my favorite software store and find useable products made for Linux.