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Introducing GNU/Linux Via Applications
An anonymous reader writes "A common problem with GNU/Linux for new users is not the operating system, but the switch in applications they must undertake to use it. Many who try to make the switch have little experience with the common open source applications available under GNU/Linux. The Kutztown GNU/Linux User Group, in Pennsylvania, is helping to change that on a large scale by distributing open source applications to faculty on Microsoft Windows machines first. Instead of selling GNU/Linux, the group is selling open source. Faculty at the school have been provided discs containing a number of popular open source applications compatible with Windows as part of a larger program to get more users to consider switching operating systems."
I enjoy giving away copies of the OpenCD. It contains a lot of common open source programs that run under Microsoft Windows.
Because Linux is only the kernel, and what most people know as Linux is actually Linux + GNU Programs. So, calling it GNU/Linux is more accurate.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C1 bottles of beer on the wall. Take one down, pass it round... Oh, umm...
to give to people interested in Open Source.
They are nicely packaged, have a CD with some art on there, etcetera.
Personally, I think nothing looks as cheap (in a bad way) or shadier than a burnt CD-R especially with permanent marker on there.
Is there any place that sells Open Source CDs or makes low runs of CDs with professional art at a low price?
Otherwise I may looking into a lightscribe burner - it look a little better.
"GNOME is Free Software and part of the GNU project"
I hope you are being funny, but if you are not, I will explain. or even if you are, in case someone else wants to know.
The assertion is that it should be called GNU/Linux because Linux depends on GNU for userspace, build tools, et cetera.
This was once true, but is actually not true any more.
Debian is explicitly called Debian GNU/Linux for this reason. Debian is pretty much the gnuest (but not the newest, ha ha) distribution out there. It has higher ideals than any other Linux that I'm aware of; read the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG) for more information.
Richard Stallman has written a whiny diatribe on the subject entitled Linux and the GNU Project. Here is an excerpt:
"What they found was no accident--it was the not-quite-complete GNU system. The available free software added up to a complete system because the GNU Project had been working since 1984 to make one. In the The GNU Manifesto we set forth the goal of developing a free Unix-like system, called GNU. The Initial Announcement of the GNU Project also outlines some of the original plans for the GNU system. By the time Linux was written, GNU was almost finished."
GNU was almost finished? Yeah, except for the lack of a useful kernel. When the HURD finally came out it was extraordinarily limited for an operating system of its day, including a lack of support for filesystems over 2GB.
You may have noticed that I have no sympathy for the view of forcing people to call it GNU/Linux. Why not? Because it's inconsistent. As per the terms of the GPL I am free to fork GCC and call it something entirely different that has nothing to do with GNU. No one is trying to take anything away from GNU or the FSF by calling various Linux distributions Linux. No one is trying to hide the fact that the majority of systems (but again, not all!) are based on or built with the GNU userland. They are only apparently not giving GNU sufficient credit. If GNU needs more credit, that should have been in the license. If it's not worth putting in the license, then shut up already.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
They failed because M$ punished those that dared to sell a bare machine. I tried to buy several machines without W98 and XP, without success. The only way to buy a machine without that crap is to buy it by pieces. You cannot honestly say that Firefox on Windows is worse than IE. (6 or 7). I still keep an XP boot to play some games, but i use linux mostly, for 7 years now. I think Vista will make many people to switch to Linux or the Mac. If they are a little knowledgeable they will switch to Linux, if they are just 'users' they will switch to the Mac. Vista remains for those who cannot buy a Mac and cannot install a Linux, the real losers.
Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
> Why do you think people will "switch"?
- You don't need to buy a new computer to get modern version of the operating system.
- Updating programs is easier.
- You don't need to fear viruses and spyware.
- The computer works faster, because antivirus programs are not slowing it down.
- Installing new programs is easier.
- Not all have paid for it, Linux is an legal option.
I was a typical Windows user, until about three years ago I decided to try Firefox. I was impressed. Then I got fed up with Norton AV and downloaded ZoneAlarm and AVG for my wife's PC (not libre software, I know). Then I got fed up with MS's WGA program and installed SuSE on my main PC. (I skipped right over my planned OO on Windows step.) Now I'm using Kubuntu and I have no intention of ever going back to Windows.
But if it hadn't been for the easy availability and high quality of Firefox on Windows, I would never have switched to Linux. Firefox is the best weapon in the whole FOSS arsenal.
I can't speak for Gimp, but Photoshop is not a drawing program. It is an image manipulation program. If you're looking to draw, try something like Corel Painter or openCanvas. (note that despite what you might assume from the latter's name, it is not open source)
Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
About KDE, it seems from a quick skimming of the comments that no one has yet remarked that Qt4 is GPL'd for Windows as well (Qt3 was not). As KDE 4 comes around and applications are ported to Qt4, it will be fairly easy to recompile K3b, Amarok, digiKam, Krita, Kile and of course KOffice to Windows. Sometime later this year there may be a flurry of high-quality free software made available for Windows, it will be interesting to see how it develops.
Victims of 9/11: <3000. Traffic in the US: >30,000/y
from the amarok developer's blog:
I have not actually seen what is on their CD, but there are some examples of free programs, most of which, have already been mentioned, that are available for both Windows and Linux.
Here are a few other examples of free programs which I forgot to include. Like the others they are available in both Windows and Linux versions.
[100% ISO 646 Compliant]
SVM, ERGO MONSTRO.