[LUGSB] Can we vote on this?

[Mark]

Hello,

Here's my argument:

I don't think that calling the club a 'Linux Users' Group' is going to
deter people interested in *BSD and other free software to attend.  It
is important to welcome and encourage users of BSD to come to the
meetings.  Spreading the use of Windows based free-software is an
important step, and is something that the club should strive to do.  I
just don't think that the name has much, if anything, to do with it. 
Just to clear things up, BSD is installed in 1 of the undergraduate labs
in the computer science building.  However, Win2K is installed on the
machines as well.  I have never really seen anyone, other than myself,
boot into FreeBSD to get their work done.  I'm sure that it is
happening, but in it's installed state, I don't think it is attracting
people to install it on their own PCs.  I don't really find twm,
netscape 4, and xterm all that exciting.  Also, putting 'Free Software'
on fliers is a good thing, but I don't think it should be seen as a way
of tricking people to attend our meetings.  I can think of a few good
ways to build membership in the club, but I don't think that is one of
them.  Explaining exactly what free software, linux, *bsd, etc is should
be left to events such as the Student Involvement Fair that we attended
and perhaps future events can target that goal.  I am all for attracting
and welcoming bsd users and windows users alike.  However, considering
the buzz-word that linux is, I see a name change hindering that goal
more than helping it.

--Mark.


On Mon, 2003-04-07 at 00:27, Vinay Pai wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Here are a few arguments for and against:
> 
> Linux is very much a buzz word today, and someone who hasn't even heard of
> linux is unlikely to be interested in ANY software other than that they're
> used to. This is especially true on the university campus where most of
> the common software is site-licensed and is thus "free" as far as the
> average user is concerned.
> 
> There is also a danger that "free software" will be confused with
> shareware (yuck) or ad-supported software (bigger yuck).
> 
> A local LUG is something many Linux fans would look for... whouldn't want
> to throw them off by calling it something else, would we?
> 
> OTOH, if advocacy is considered an important goal, the emphasizing the
> free software part makes a lot of sense... using software like Mozilla or
> openoffice on Windows makes for a smooth transition... installing a new
> piece of software is a far less drastic change than installing a new OS...
> even as a dual-boot.
> 
> Just my $0.02 worth.
> 
> -Vinay
> 
> My resolution for the new year is 1600x1200
> 
> 
> On Sun, 6 Apr 2003, Michael Graffam wrote:
> 
> >
> > Hello everyone,
> >
> > I know this is somewhere out of left field, but I'd like to suggest that
> > we come up with a new name for the group.
> >
> > At many of our meetings, we have concerned ourselves with attracting new
> > membership to the LUG. I believe a name change can help with this, which
> > I'll explain later.
> >
> > I've heard it said that SB uses FreeBSD in the computer science building.
> > Are students developing on FreeBSD? Do they know that they can freely
> > copy this software and have the same thing on their home PC, dual-booted
> > with Windows?
> >
> > As a LUG, much of what we've talked about, for example KDE and GNOME, or
> > Emacs apply equally well to FreeBSD as they do to Linux. In fact, I doubt
> > anyone has done much talking about using the Linux system call API
> > directly. Even programmers don't use Linux very often :)
> >
> > And non-programmers never touch Linux! They use GNOME, Emacs, bash and
> > other GNU software. There is no reason for us to restrict ourselves to
> > Linux, because for most potential users it is irrelevent, we're talking
> > about user-land software, not kernel-related stuff.
> >
> > We're not a Linux user's group, we're a GNU/Linux user's group and while
> > we're at it, we may as well call ourselves a Free Software User's Group,
> > or something, because we should invite any people interested in BSD into
> > the group too. Especially since it is used it on campus.
> >
> > Calling ourselves a Free Software Group would encompass a lot broader
> > range of options and users. And there is a marketing benefit for
> > attracting new users: some people would stop by just to see what free (as
> > in price) software they might get, like a pirated version of MS Office.
> >
> > This is good, because we tell them what we REALLY mean by "Free Software"
> > and explain "free as in freedom." And then we offer a copy of OpenOffice
> > for Windows.
> >
> > Later on, maybe we can get them to use OpenOffice on Linux or FreeBSD.
> >
> > Instead of Windows users looking at "Linux User's Group" flyers and not
> > having a clue what they mean, they can look at a "Come get all the free
> > software you can copy; bring your own blanks" flyers and I'll bet people
> > show up.
> >
> > By placing the emphasis of the group on Free Software, and not just Linux,
> > I think we can broaden the appeal and gain more GNU/Linux users in the
> > process.
> >
> > What do you all think?
> >
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> >
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