Samba -- Just Do It!

[David Rankin]

As I get older, hopefully wiser, I try and look at ways I can make a
contribution to various causes that I believe in. Examples would incluce
my alma maters, various legal or political groups (that share or
advocate my views), or other groups of "right thinking" people, to name
a few. Of one in particular, open soucre comes to mind. And, within the
relm of open source, Samba in particular.

We can all contribute in various ways. We can get involved. We can
contribute to the coding effort. We can contribute to the 2nd half of
the coding effort by shaking the bugs out of the system. We can help
others wanting knowledge about the product -- help folks get up and
running by answering their queations. All of which goes to getting open
source installed and increasing the user base of this great alternative
to traditional closed products.

Of all the things we can do, there is no substitute to giving to the
cause -- putting our money where our mouth is.  Because nothing, in this
day and age, moves forward on good intentions alone. Which brings me to
my point (Again -- thank god they say!)

I have looked at ways of contributing to Samba. I try to answer all of
the postings that I am competent to answer (about 5%) and I try to gain
more knowledge about the software. One way I can contribute (without
sounding like a complete newbie) is to do domething simple -- like
contribute monitarily to help support the project. Don't get me wrong, I
don't have much to give, but one contribution avenue I have found is the
offering by the project to sell T-shirts. Something simple, but revenue
generating just the same. Along with the T-shirt offer comes the
assurance that the proceeds will advance the effort by providing funding
to cover some of the overhead of the Samba team -- great idea!

So, I order 2 shirts, a long sleeve and short sleeve version. I read the
proposed delivery time ~ 4-6 weeks. I also read how the shirts would be
packed and shipped by a crack team solely dedicated to the Samba
movement (One of the Samba team's children ). So I sent in my
contribution ~ $40 not worrying about whether I really got the shirts or
not. What I received was worth its weight in gold.

As advertised, I received 2 excellent shirts made of great cotton
(Gildan Activeware Ultra Cotton) well imprinted and screened. The shirts
were secondary to the true value of the package. Because within the
package was a simple note bearing the Samba logo that read:

Than your for ordering this Samba shirt
Your order was processed by Aled and Amalia's Order Processing.
Thank you!

/S/    A/ED

No doubt hand signed by the hard working kids that packed my shirt and
help make this project work!

So while I don't have the expertise to contribute to about 95% of the
discussion, I can try to put my contributions where they are truly
needed. I can also ask everyone else to help out and contribute in the
same manner without souding like a complete newbie. (no chance of being
technically incorrect)

So my message/plea is simple. Everyone, simply try and think about the
financial side of the open source equation and do what you can to make
the project work. One great way for everyone to do this is to set a goal
to buy a shirt before the end of may. It's not much, but it is something
we can all do to make sure our voice is heard clearly, not only
technically, but financially. (Not that we will be able to generate
.001% of the budget of the MS SMB effort, but we can make a difference)

So -- Just Do It!!

==================================================================

I am not in any way, shape, form or fashion connected with Samba (other
than using the great open source software). I am a lawyer and named
partner with Rankin*Bertin, PLLC who previously was an aero engineer for
NASA that got tired of working for the government (Sperry Univac and
all). I decided to build a Linux/Samba server for my office in January
to free up my secretary's D: drive and my machine hasn't been rebooted
since 1/19/01, serves 4 WinXX clients, does DHCP, DNS, mail, serves as a
gateway for our net access, and does VPN. After ordering my shirts I
simply decided that I could do my part (although not technically - I'm
still learning) by making everyone aware of a way to contribute to the
Samba project financially. (The hand signed note from the kids really
prompted me to write) So, again, Just Do It!

Our strength is in our numbers and there is no way to speak louder that
with good old cold hard cash.  Let's give this team the tolls they need
to keep moving forward..............


--
David Rankin
Nacogdoches, Texas