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On Thu, 2010-02-04 at 21:45 +0000, Grant Sewell wrote: > On Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:22:14 +0000 > Paul Sutton wrote: > > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > > Hash: SHA1 > > > > Rhia Knowles wrote: > > >>From Freedom comes Elegance (linux Mint) > > > > > > I've always liked that one. > > > > > > Or there's one a friend has as an email sig: > > > > > > Windows: Where do you want to go today? > > > MacOS: Where do you want to be tomorrow? > > > Linux: Are you coming or what? > > > (from Linux Journal) > > > > > > > ok if we are going to demo / advocate different distros, we need users > > of those distros to be willing to attend the meeting and perhaps bring > > with them copies of cd's to give away > > I see where you're going with this, but it's not necessarily true. > Windows' "Control Panel" has changed a fair bit over the years and yet > for the most part if you can "use" one, you can use any of them without > having a representative user from that particular version explaining > how to use it. > > I don't think we necessarily need to have indivudual Mint, Xubuntu, > Kubuntu, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, CentOS, RHEL, Mandriva, Novell/SuSE, > OpenSuSE, PCLinuxOS, etc, representatives. For the most part (these > days, anyway) the majority of Linuxes that people tend to gravitate > towards are either RPM (RHEL, CentOS, Fedora, Mandriva, *SuSE, > PCLinuxOS, etc) or DEB (Debian, *buntu, Mint, etc) based. Apart from a > few individual tweaks, the systems are very close to eachother anyway. > > I would say it is more important to have a general ethos of encouraging > people to find the correct information rather than merely present them > with a long list of "if you're running X, do Y, if you're running P, do > Q, etc). > > When I say "encourage people to find the correct information", I mean > answering their question with another question, but explaining why > you're asking and why/how their answers will be helpful. Certainly it > is my experience that people are more receptive to, and empowered by a > given solution if they have "ownership" of it (my god, I'm actually > talking like an Educationalist! HELP ME!). Encourage people to ask > questions, don't answer them with RTFM style reposts, and nurture a > spirit of discovery. > > Grant. > this is the problem. even the poster will be confusing. a use linux poster pretty much amounts to a "Use a PC" poster, because one someone asks "OK I'll try linux" you'll have to go off on a "do you want to use Redhat, Kubuntu, Mint, Ubuntu, Slackware" converstion by which time your questioner will have given up and gone home. OK. Ubuntu is not the only distro, but it is easy to use, easy to install and easy to demo. If you manage to get someone to use it that is the time to explain there are other distros. That is the time to get into the ideological angels dancing on home made CDs. Keep it simple! Here is an easy to use, install OS that will do everything you need and it is free! Questions about why is it free and so on will follow. Once people are using linux they may, or may not (my mother and next door neighbour (happy users of ubuntu and kubuntu respectively) show a marked reluctance to hear me explain about other distros they might like - "no Simon, what you installed works great is there any pressing reason why I need to switch again?". Once they have software installed that does all the stuff they need they're not even interested in looking at alternative apps (unlike you and me whole download anything to take a look at it). For most people OS's and apps are as enthralling as makes of dishwashers. This is what needs to be remembered when trying to "flog" linux. "Here is a cheaper slicker free dishwasher" - great! "I can offer you a choice of 15 free dishwashers, some have copyright components, some don't". "Some of them will be trickier to use than your current one, but you'll catch on fast..." - don't think so. Simon -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html