[Infopoint] The state of the (Infopoint)?

[alan c]

Richard Smedley wrote:
>> I think a better person to target would be a business user.  Which
>> obviously means there's some money in it for the consultants working
>> the fairs which can only be a good thing for the longevity of the
>> project. 
> 
> Seconded - we're helping in the Autumn with a couple of events aimed at
> introducing business and social enterprise users to Free Software, in
> North Wales.
> 
> Normally we're at voluntary sector events, where we find a very non-
> technical audience, but one unafraid to talk about ethical choices, and
> community values :-)

Have you found them to be receptive? I have had limited contact with 
that sector, but they
1) already have windows somehow bought or donated (sometimes by MS) and
2) they are not very interested in a system their volunteers do not 
use. I have made inquiries at oxfam locally for example, and 
registered at the local volunteer bureau as open source/linux helper 
(free worker). Not a single taker. i think peole simply do not know 
what open source or linux is.

I talked to a near-local windows repair shop (business and private). 
He never did anything with linux or open source. He said he 'thought 
linux had folded'. I mentioned that microsoft had just paid 400M (?) 
to novell and bought 70 000 linux licences to sell to their customers. 
He began to get interested. He even took and read a leaflet I offered 
on open source.

> btw on the subject of alternatives to computer fairs to reach home
> computer users, my nearest town has an annual event during which 
> most local community organisations have stands passing out information
> about their activities, and looking for more involvement. My local,
> geographically-disparate LUG might not be the best for this sort of
> Fayre - but it could be the sort of event that's ideal for other
> Infopoint members.

I would encourage displays to be at all possible events fairs and 
annual and business events. In my area there are twelve fairs per annum.

My own experience has been that the home users often underpin, even 
cause the business user to follow. This happened in a major water 
company I worked for, I was in the unenviable position of chair of the 
deciding users committee.
-- 
alan c
Kubuntu user#10391