I work with nonprofit computer training programs in the US, and I've always been impressed by GCF Global Learning's free computing tutorials, at www.gcflearnfree.org.
Originally funded by the local Goodwill in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, GCF offers instructor-led online classes, as well as free training materials, for all sorts of classes, from "Computer Basics" to "Access 2002." The best part is that they also offer free materials for OpenOffice.org software!
The UN-funded International Open Source Network has an excellent "Intro to Linux Desktop" course at http://www.iosn.net/training/end-user-manual/. That page also has links to other free software training materials.
You should totally write up a detailed account of what you're doing and submit it as a Slashdot story -- I'd be interested to hear more. Or do you have a (shudder) blog?
Your legal advisor should check out Good Samaritan laws in your area, and should also look at drafting a very simple yet effective liability release form.
I am president of a non-profit organization in Chicago called NPOTechs: we provide free software, training, and technical volunteers to non-profit organizations in our area. Our past classes have included a 20-session course on RHCE, classes on OpenOffice.org, GIMP, Blender, general Linux (all including free software giveaways). Our past volunteer projects have included FOSS databases, VPN-based WANs, samba server implementations, etc. We also show up at non-profit events and conferences to distribute copies of Knoppix and The OpenCD.
I would recommend that you check out AC4, the Association for Christian Computing Centers, also known as TechMission. I used to work for one of their secular partners, CTCNet which does similar things but for community- as opposed to church-oriented sites.
If you'd like to see how we've been doing things for the past couple of years, check out our website at NPOTechs.org.
Actually, I do have a clue. I help large organizations move their apps from custom client/server toward the browser: open standards, any platform. Virtually any client-server app, especially with a database back-end, can be made web-accessible.
* platform-independent. don't need a big fat desktop box... or thousands of them.
* maintain ONE copy of the app, not 100 or 1000 or 10,000.
* even mainframe "green screens" can be "web-faced" and thus accessible from the browser -- and not just via an embedded Java terminal emulator.
The move toward the browser is a big reason Microsoft will face an uphill battle convincing corporate buyers to shell out for Longhorn and required hardware.
These "killer apps" are usually client/server database-heavy apps... which are now being moved toward the browser.
Remember, we're not talking about 1998 or 2002. We're talking 2005 - 2008. I imagine the city will be moving -- like many businesses and other organizations -- toward a browser-as-platform model. After all, if they wanted to keep thousands of big fat desktops and a staff of programmers, wouldn't they have just kept Windows?:-)
I would wager that >90% of the computer-using employees only use a browser, an email client, a word processor, and a spreadsheet.
Those are all pretty much platform-independent. Interacting with shared files and printers? Pretty much the same on either platform "\\server01\accounting" is the same in Windows or Linux.
These people won't be installing hardware drivers or trying to get the latest game to run or tweaking.conf files. Relax.
Billions of messages are sent every day, the majority of which are spam. That's different than telemarketing calls, which require a live person-to-person (or at least phone circuit-to-person) connection.
Also, even if volume wasn't the problem, the fact that spammers are almost always either outside the US or using compromised zombie PCs is just going to complicate things immensely.
Put simply, they have a lot of money tied up in everything, and it's all about the numbers to them. Everything from how many 40-year-olds break their left ankle all the way up to what happens if millions of people inhale nanobots that destroy their lungs on the inside.
They also addressed climate change from a relatively broad range of perspectives a couple of years ago. See this report.
Of course, if we all go gray goo, there won't be anyone left to pay a claim to.:-)
So if someone wasn't "interested" in Linux 10 years ago, they're incapable of writing a good review today?
That's like those job ads looking for sysadmins with 7 years of Windows 2000 experience.
What brilliant insights are you going to share with us about compiling Linux on a 386/486 and how do they relate to a typical desktop distro install/usability review today? Uh, things are faster now?
These things are written for people who shouldn't *have* to compile anything.
My Cingular (Chicago-area) phone quit receiving calls 10 days ago. After 3 days of their horrible tech support, I finally found a rep who said that their system had no record of my SIM card, and that the records must have "gotten lost." He re-entered them, and all was well for two days, and then the problem recurred. This time, I was told that it was a national problem that had occurred a couple of days earlier.
During all of this, I've called *611 dozens of times, and the hold times are well above average.
I used to work in one of Cingular's Call Center IT departments; I just emailed a friend who's still there to see what's going on...
Slashdot Mirror
Originally funded by the local Goodwill in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, GCF offers instructor-led online classes, as well as free training materials, for all sorts of classes, from "Computer Basics" to "Access 2002." The best part is that they also offer free materials for OpenOffice.org software!
The UN-funded International Open Source Network has an excellent "Intro to Linux Desktop" course at http://www.iosn.net/training/end-user-manual/. That page also has links to other free software training materials.
You should totally write up a detailed account of what you're doing and submit it as a Slashdot story -- I'd be interested to hear more. Or do you have a (shudder) blog?
Good luck!
Your legal advisor should check out Good Samaritan laws in your area, and should also look at drafting a very simple yet effective liability release form.
I would recommend that you check out AC4, the Association for Christian Computing Centers, also known as TechMission. I used to work for one of their secular partners, CTCNet which does similar things but for community- as opposed to church-oriented sites.
If you'd like to see how we've been doing things for the past couple of years, check out our website at NPOTechs.org.
And good luck!
Florida Proposes Taxing Local LANs
* platform-independent. don't need a big fat desktop box... or thousands of them.
* maintain ONE copy of the app, not 100 or 1000 or 10,000.
* even mainframe "green screens" can be "web-faced" and thus accessible from the browser -- and not just via an embedded Java terminal emulator.
The move toward the browser is a big reason Microsoft will face an uphill battle convincing corporate buyers to shell out for Longhorn and required hardware.
Remember, we're not talking about 1998 or 2002. We're talking 2005 - 2008. I imagine the city will be moving -- like many businesses and other organizations -- toward a browser-as-platform model. After all, if they wanted to keep thousands of big fat desktops and a staff of programmers, wouldn't they have just kept Windows? :-)
Those are all pretty much platform-independent. Interacting with shared files and printers? Pretty much the same on either platform "\\server01\accounting" is the same in Windows or Linux.
These people won't be installing hardware drivers or trying to get the latest game to run or tweaking .conf files. Relax.
Billions of messages are sent every day, the majority of which are spam. That's different than telemarketing calls, which require a live person-to-person (or at least phone circuit-to-person) connection. Also, even if volume wasn't the problem, the fact that spammers are almost always either outside the US or using compromised zombie PCs is just going to complicate things immensely.
They also addressed climate change from a relatively broad range of perspectives a couple of years ago. See this report.
Of course, if we all go gray goo, there won't be anyone left to pay a claim to. :-)
I'm sure your girlfriend will be thrilled to hear your view that lesbians are the only lovers who need to use their tongues.
And yes, I know where I am. :)
People like SuSE and RedHat, for instance?
Check www.gnu.org if you're still unclear on whether you can sell free software.
Hint: you can.
Was that a rhetorical question? :)
Yes, but the people tend to be alive after these accidents. Anyone can yank a corpse out of a mangled Honda. Believe me, anyone!
Or be like the kids in my neighborhood and drive a mobile dance club.
thump thump thump thump thump thump
So if someone wasn't "interested" in Linux 10 years ago, they're incapable of writing a good review today? That's like those job ads looking for sysadmins with 7 years of Windows 2000 experience. What brilliant insights are you going to share with us about compiling Linux on a 386/486 and how do they relate to a typical desktop distro install/usability review today? Uh, things are faster now? These things are written for people who shouldn't *have* to compile anything.
Actually, FTC Commissioners are appointed, not elected, according to this page:
http://www.ftc.gov/bios/commissioners.htm
I don't think government employees can accept "contributions" from companies -- granted, that's just for "over the table" contributions.
What's funny is that the Trade Commissioner listed after Mozelle on this page is named "Orson Swindle."
My phone is TDMA and GAIT and hasn't worked for 3 days.
My Cingular (Chicago-area) phone quit receiving calls 10 days ago. After 3 days of their horrible tech support, I finally found a rep who said that their system had no record of my SIM card, and that the records must have "gotten lost." He re-entered them, and all was well for two days, and then the problem recurred. This time, I was told that it was a national problem that had occurred a couple of days earlier. During all of this, I've called *611 dozens of times, and the hold times are well above average. I used to work in one of Cingular's Call Center IT departments; I just emailed a friend who's still there to see what's going on...