[SFD-discuss] What disk to burn

[Larry Cafiero]

On 8/4/07, Pia Waugh <pia at softwarefreedomday.org> wrote:
>
>
> If teams want to hand out additional schwag on top of what we are able to
> provide, that is not only fine, it is encouraged! :) Teams that can get
> local support from universities, schools, businesses and Government will
> not
> only have a great event, but will also create awareness and education
> about
> software freedom right throughout their community. After all, freedom
> isn't
> just for geeks, right? ;)


That was my point -- whether we had the ability to hand out software other
than what we acquired from

We would highly
> recommend you consider the needs of the users you hand the software out
> to.


Oh, understood. Again, this was brought up at an organizational meeting. I
am an Xubuntu user, a very happy one at that (although I've tried other
distros and have liked them, including gNewSense). We are hoping to have
some *buntu disks available, as part of what we would like to offer.
Needless to say, I wouldn't start off someone with, like, Crux, but again my
colleague wants to emphasize free software.



We have chosen to provide teams with some Ubuntu CDs (and The Open CD) even
> though Ubuntu contains some proprietary drivers, because there needs to be
> a
> practical element as well as an education element. I personally believe
> that
> if you give software to a complete newbie that will not work on their
> laptop
> due to proprietary hardware, most people will simply say "this free
> software
> stuff doesn't work". Hand out the 100% free distros along side something
> that is practical and easy for new users so they can get excited and get
> on
> the path to freedom :)
>
> I often think back to how I got into GNU/Linux. My background is in
> systems
> administration and I started using Debian about 9 years ago. I loved it as
> a
> technical person because of the technical superiority over Windows. It
> took
> me a few years to really understand the freedom and community aspects, so
> it
> would be arrogant of me to expect complete newbies to totally understand
> everything from the start. Be kind to your newbie communities, invite them
> in to understanding how this affects them and why software freedom is
> important.
>
> I wrote a short article about how software freedom can affect our basic
> human rights. This message can be a powerful first step for people new to
> this world in understanding how technology affects them. If they buy into
> the concepts, it is more likely they'll buy into FOSS.
>
> http://softwarefreedomday.org/SoftwareFreedom


Read it -- thought it was great! We'll be copying this and having it
available, if that's okay.

Larry Cafiero
FOSS San Lorenzo Valley
Felton, California, U.S.A.
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