[cumbria_lug] Meeting soon? Infopoint ideas?

[jenruss+jen at mail.plus.net]

So, do we have a meet date yet? We're happy to host, and the dates proposed
were this Friday or next Friday. Either's still fine by us.

We all seemed to think the info point thing was a good idea, but we've so
far done pretty much nothing. I suggest at the meet we discuss what we want
to do for it. Russ and I have been discussing it, and we've had one or two
ideas, but they need to be discussed, and of course, more ideas are always
a good thing.

Overall, whatever we do should not be too technical, it should not include
so much stuff that people shy away from it (eg, if you suggest too many
different browsers, people will get confused and stick with what they
know), and while we should be enthusiastic, we shouldn't be overbearing.

Our ideas so far:

demo machines
If we can get a couple of demo machines set up at the infopoint, we can
show off some of the software, and hopefully overcome some of the fear of
it being low quality. It may be an idea to show some programs that people
are familiar with running under Linux, and I think Unreal Tournament is a
good bet. Lots of people have heard of it, it's made by a very big company,
and it's a game. It therefore dispels several myths all in one go. It also
looks very pretty, which helps when showing off anything geeky to the
average user.

OpenCD
We were thinking being able to give away CDs of OSS for Windows for people
to try would be good. Providing samples is a proven way of getting
customers. I don't think it should shout too much about it all being free
(people will want to know what the catch is), and shouldn't include so much
stuff that people get lost looking at the list. I had a look at the OpenCD
the other day, and I think it's what we're looking for. It features
OpenOffice.org, Mozilla, a couple of games, etc. The menu/installer looks
and feels like a magazine cover disk, which is good because it's familiar.

Bootable Linux CD
Linux is, in many ways, the core of OSS. If we can give people a way of
trying Linux without having to go through any awkward install, and without
having to fiddle with partitions that may potentially damage their current
Windows install, then they may just be tempted. The version of Linux we
choose should be small, have a small number of useful programs (too many
and people will shy away out of confusion), and boot and run well from CD.
It should also have a desktop that isn't too alien. Puppy may be a good
option.
If possible, it may be best to combine this with the OpenCD onto one disk,
but it would need someone with more technical knowledge than me to actually
do it.

Infosheets
Possibly double sided, with one side discussing the philosphy of free
software, and the other giving more practical advice. The discussion side
should include some of the ideals, plus some more practical information on
why it actually works. Perhaps the story about nail soup?
The advice side should include some "how to" information on switching to
open source - confirming that you don't have to get rid of MS Office in
order to try OOo, and explaining that OOo will handle MS file types, so
there's absolutely no worries in trying it out. Maybe some info on how to
get their computer to boot the Puppy(?) part of the CD.


It would need someone more technical than me to do some of this, but I'd be
more than happy to work on the infosheet and CD lables. We also need to
work on the practical side of actually getting a spot at a computer fair,
and how much that may cost. Any suggestions, comments, etc, welcome.

Hugs,

Jen

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