[PLUG] Linux Expo/Demo/whatever

[A Braunsdorf]

In message <Pine.GSO.4.10.10002221611180.900-100000@lore.cs.purdue.edu>, Matt W
allace writes:
> What we should
> be showing off about linux is flexibilty, customization, stability and
> and the fact that it's free and open.

UNIX has always had that, and you've been able to run it at home
for quite a while.  Why isn't everybody doing it?  What made you
start?  Would that reason convince your Aunt Betty?


> Also I'd be careful about showing
> emphasizing how much Linux can be like Windows.. Why is this a good thing?

Not "like", "greater than or equal to", as in "Anything you can
do, we can do better."  If it's not, give it up and let them run
MS Windows while you get this stuff up to snuff.  Try again next
year.

It's a good thing because it breaks down the fundamental Microsoft
Lie:  "You Want Windows".  Bull.  Nobody wants MS Windows.  They
might very well want the functionality of MS >Office<, but no one
wants MS Windows.  Microsoft tries to instill a brand loyalty in
their "OS" by confusing it with their applications.

Run the same or similar applications on another platform and you
undermine their propaganda.  Don't believe me?  Look how many Macs
they sell- largely to run MS Office, at least initially.

In most people's minds, Linux isn't a contender because it's:

	Too hard to deal with (compared to MS Windows?!)

	Unsupported (like you can get any help with your MS problems)

	Won't run anything they want to use (mostly untrue, but
	you've got to show them)

	Weird (won't look weird if they can do whatever they're
	doing with MS stuff now)

I think the usual Linux zealot approach covers the first two, but
ignores the third- and reinforces the fourth. :-)


It's also a good thing because it lets them try using a Linux
machine to do real work in their usual environment on a small scale.
If they like it, it'll spread like a virus.

I'd love to set up one of the secretaries over here with a UNIX
machine that worked so much better than her old MS Windows thing.
If it really did, they'd all be begging to be converted.


> Sure it's cool that you can share files with Samba.. but how
> about showing off single sign-on capabilities with SSH..

Yawn.  Your audience has just moved on to the next table.


> You have to realize that making the switch to Linux is more about
> the UNIX paradigm in general than the particulars of Linux.

Most Linux fans aren't really selling the UNIX paradigm, they're
crowing that Microsoft is evil and this is better because it's not
Microsoft.  They don't stick around to help people go back to
getting their work done after they've loaded Linux.

Besides, the UNIX paradigm antedates Linux considerably.  People
who buy into paradigms are already in the choir. :-)

ab