[Colchester] Software Freedom Day

[Tom Robbins]

Actually I have serious issues with OpenOffice, which is why I've  
moved to Office 2008. But that's beside the point...

You're right that to a lot of people there is no difference between  
Internet Explorer and the Internet, or between Windows and "the  
System" for that matter. We have this big issue, which is partly  
because of Microsoft et al steadily dumbing things down for the last  
twenty years, so most computer users having no clue how computers  
work. I doubt most people could even tell you the difference between  
software and hardware these days.

If you really want to do something for Software Freedom Day, teach  
people about how computers work rather than fixing peoples software  
woes or hard selling the FOSS alternative of the moment. Long term it  
will achieve far more.

Tom



On 16 Aug 2009, at 18:30, Wayland Sothcott wrote:

> Sam Tuke wrote:
>> I think that the PCWorld suggestion would not be a good idea at all.
>>
>> Sam.
> People who buy PCs are potential Linux users. I think PC World is a
> great shop but many customers seem to think that it's the best place  
> for
> PC advice. We might do better offering 'rescue' disks. A Live Linux CD
> which allows them to get back online and also get access to their hard
> drive. If we want to get some converts then we could actually give
> suiatble rescue disks to PC World tech staff after a little chat.
>
> The most practical way to be is to be good at all computer stuff not
> just Windows or Mac or Linux. People are aware the Microsoft try to  
> lock
> them into Office 2007 by installing it 'free' and then it runs out  
> in 3
> months after they have saved all their stuff in 2007 format. Just a
> quick word about saving in the earlier format means they can switch to
> Open Office later.
>
> Here is another thing. People who only use Internet Explorer have  
> never
> heard of it! Seriously, to them it's not Internet Explorer, it's The
> Internet! However many people have heard of and use Fire Fox, but they
> have not heard of Opera. Oddly many people who have heard of Internet
> Explorer are now using Google Chrome, but they have confused Google
> Chrome with Google the search engine website. The reason is that
> Internet Explorer users have a large Google Chrome install button on
> their Google home page!
>
> I believe the Open Source community is having a great deal of success
> with free software. The cost of commercial software for the features
> people don't know about does play a big part. I know people who hate
> Open Office but don't find a problem with what it can do, they just
> don't like the fact it's differnt.
>
> Wayland.
>
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