Re: [Fsedu-developers] Getting the show on the road

[Stephen Compall]

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More from Ian.

With apologies to
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html:

Today many people are switching to free software for purely practical
reasons. That is good, as far as it goes, but that isn't all we need
to do! Attracting users to free software is not the whole job, just
the first step.

Sooner or later these users will be invited to switch back to
proprietary software for some practical advantage. Countless companies
seek to offer such temptation, and why would users decline? Only if
they have learned to value the freedom free software gives them, for
its own sake. It is up to us to spread this idea--and in order to do
that, we have to talk about freedom.

On Sunday 30 March 2003 05:08 pm, ian wrote:
> I mean volumes of people. We shouldn't under-estimate the number of
> education initiatives competing for the attention of educators. To us
> freedom in software is a big issue and consumes a lot of our time.
> The average teacher in the UK can't distinguish between MS Windows
> and MS Office so I doubt they will make the free software philosophy
> a priority in their lives unless it has some other value to them, at
> least initially. My thrust with the INGOTs is to make it minimally
> bureaucratic, fill an education niche where there is a gap (no
> certificated skills that primary education can afford and no routes
> for progression in things like MOUS and ECDL) and make it low cost.
> Also allow user to use MS Office - that way we can at least get a
> point of contact to talk to them and get money from them for software
> and content development.

Regardless of the merits of this final proposal, that is foregoing the
office field in a compromising manner, as a mildly official GNU
project, we can't do it.

> > But when we want volume, we don't just want software volume.  We
> > *want* people to take a stand against software owners.
>
> Yes, but you have to get the masses on side first. The strategy to
> get your customers is likely to have to be more than brute common
> sense ;-)

"Doctor, most people, in my experience, wouldn't know reason if it
walked up and shook their hand."

> If that's all it needed Windows would not be in the dominant
> position that it is. All I'm saying is that the strategy needs to be
> specific to the needs of educators and those needs will be different
> in different countries and for different age groups. eg There are
> well established vocational skills qualifications for 16+ age group,
> not for 10 year olds yet 10 year olds like getting certificates
> badges etc. So start with them and build a progressive framework so
> by the time they are old enough for MOUS etc they have already
> achieved alternative certification so why bother with the MS
> specific stuff?

Alternative certification?

>  We *want* the
>
> > philosophy of free software (and knowledge, hence the content
> > projects) to be one of those priorities of busy teachers.  We
> > aren't trying to be an unintrusive force that *doesn't* interrupt
> > these busy teachers; quite the opposite, in fact.
>
> Then you are going to need to be a lot better at marketing than the
> likes of IBM, ICL and several big companies with large marketing
> budgets who have tried to get into education here and failed - why?
> Because they don't understand the culture and they haven't had
> credible strategies that appeal to the average over-worked teacher.

I live for near-impossible goals. :)

> > As for turning software into something that you can ignore: to
> > date, many computer users been pretending that computers themselves
> > aren't an important issue in the use of computers.  I added a
> > fuller comment about this to http://fsedu.org/fsedu.pl?ForXDiscuss
>
> I agree that the technical knowledge aspect is swept out of sight as
> much as possible, but ask yourself why? Its because those in power
> want it that way and they have the ear of the masses. It seems to me
> that getting in at grass roots level in ways that involve large
> numbers of users is a sensible first step because you can then build
> the more difficult concepts over time. The whole free software
> philosophy is easy for you to grasp but not easy for people who know
> nothing about it, and most will just switch off before reading
> lengthy tomes on the subject. Marketing is about quick easily
> absorbed messages.
>
> > We have a lot of negative images to fight anyways, one more
> > easily-refuted one won't hurt, IMHO, and will do much good to
> > confront.
>
> OTOH why make a difficult situation more difficult? We have limited
> resources so they need to be used with maximum effectiveness. How do
> you eat an elephant?

We're already eating an elephant; I'm saying a few more pounds won't
hurt.  (FIXME: Am I staying in line with the analogy? ;)

Finally, I apologize for not observing the appropriate amount of
seriousness in this conversation.  But I just read that good bit from
FSFS again and media withdrawal shock is making me feel a little
weird.

- -- 
Stephen Compall - Also known as S11001001
DotGNU `Contributor' -- http://dotgnu.org
Jabber ID: address@hidden

The only real significance of the "Halloween documents" is that
Microsoft seems to think that the GNU/Linux system has the potential
for great success.

Thank you, Microsoft, and please get out of the way.
        -- RMS, "Is Microsoft the Great Satan?"

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