[clug] Linux and City News Canberra

[bryan at netspeed.com.au]

Thanks for the thoughtful response, Scott:


>
> This and other lists already provide more support than people ask for 
> -
> certainly I don't recall anyone's post languishing on the list
> unanswered.
Using that requires subscription to the list. Older people I meet 
wouldn't know what that was!
>
> And that includes home visits, equipment loans, and training
> - exactly the sort of community support people *don't* get with 
> Windoof.

Volunteering is a great idea, and Canberra thrives on it! Though I 
think that relevant club membership is segmented, for example by 
education level.
>
> I don't recall any "cost" issues.... perhaps someone will correct my 
> misremembering?

Time is money!
>
> Best == "everyone does it" is less an argument than an oxymoronic
> impossibility.

By definition, laggards will not try a concept until their associates 
have done so first!
>
> Try "best" == "lowest common denominator" (mass market) to see why ;p

In a class, I sat opposite a senior immigrant. He demanded to know 
which service provider was the biggest. For he equated market 
leadership with "mandate of the masses" approval.
>
> As long as the "respected brand" dwarfs the Linux product.
Bose was notable for heavy promotion! Which in the public perception 
equated to superior quality.
>
> So it's not so much about converting "most" people to Linux - they 
> already have (it dominates their lives)
What's under the bonnet may seem irrelevant to the masses.
>
> ;making them aware they already use it

I can think of someone who would rather not know!
>
> ;incremental instead of radical changes (be prepared to start them on 
> a
> non-free mix, let them enjoy the product before giving them the 
> "rights"
> speech").

Think of Sir Humphrey Appleby. To laggards, change is a swearword!
>
> We (most of us anyway) like computers all most as much, or more, than
> what we use them for.
My computer was donated to me. To save money that I couldn't afford!
>
> Most people aren't like us in that respect - they buy them because 
> they are a status symbol, and because they use them.

I notice especially people's use of portable devices.
>
> If their peers use Android they'll use Android, it their peers root 
> Android they'll
> learn about Linux.
The great unwashed avoid nerds!
>
> Many people are aware of Linux - and interested, but
> unless they can find a supportive peer group they feel comfortable 
> with
> they won't make the switch.

I stayed with a Yank family. They lived below the start of the 
Appalachian Trail. But in the five years they'd been there--they 
hadn't visited it once. Because hiking wasn't promoted on billboards 
or TV!
>
> For most - our passion for Open Source is a boring waste of time.

I know a woman who equates computers with maths: "Yuck!".
>
> Expecting most people to throw off the shackles of corporate 
> oppression
> and think for themselves is, um, an enterprise dependent on optimism
> overcoming experience.

I agree.
>
> I suspect a more productive approach is to educate people about what
> they can *create* with Open Source (code, multimedia, etc), and the
> community.
To a chartered accountant--creativity is a crime!
>
> These are other things that Linux offers - without
> challenging "conventional" norms.

I know a farmer whose son had set up his computer. He uses that to 
play chess. And he has no idea what else is involved!
>
> Intellectual and informational freedom, and lower TCO are powerful
> motivators - but the entire audience is the choir (people that want
> those things don't need evangalists - or directions).
Freedom scares people; they'd rather be drugged!
>
> Saving money will appeal to some, but many are happy to pay others to 
> do the work instead.
I think there's much economic inefficiency.