RE: [Fsuk-manchester] Ubuntu begginers guide, reply

[Pete Morris]

I think the trick here is not to go too gung-go about it. Keep it light, keep 
it fun, keep it interesting. When Richard Stallman was pondering ideas about 
free software and copyleft, his underlying purpose was to ensure that useful 
functionality wasn't lost; it wasn't about burning placards and Stalin style 
speeches.

There is an strong correlation between the free software movement and other 
minority opinion groups, and sometimes the two can get interwoven in a rather 
unfortunate manner ("vegan cupcakes", if you'll excuse me citing an example, 
although I'm sure they are delicious). People are inherently sceptical, and if 
they get a whiff of nerves that this might actually be a cover for the 
socialist worker party, a time-share talk or some kind of cult, they'll switch 
off.

If you are trying to reach a wider audience or appeal to 'the mainstream' then 
it's key to make sure that you don't come across as having an alternative 
agenda. This is where companies like Canonical excel, as they know how to play 
to their target market. They send reps who know how to relate to business; they 
wear classy suits rather than strange t-shirts with obscure unix 'jokes'; they 
talk about concepts like "cost reduction" and "total cost of ownership" rather 
than arguing about whether Firefox or Iceweasle is the way forward. You get the 
idea.

Any philosophy talk needs to follow the usual KISS philosophy. Don't lecture or 
preach; people are supposed to be empowered to make their own choices (that's 
the whole point of free software!), not have GNU rammed down their throat hard. 
Lots of anecdotes, stories, examples, things people can relate to and see where 
it might fit into their own lives. The key point is that you are trying to 
*demonstrate* why free software is cool, not *teach* why free software is good 
for them.

Pete



-----Original Message-----
From: address@hidden [mailto:address@hidden On Behalf Of Simon Ward
Sent: 01 December 2010 23:10
To: address@hidden
Subject: Re: [Fsuk-manchester] Ubuntu begginers guide, reply

On Wed, Dec 01, 2010 at 10:58:45PM +0000, João Pedro Forjaz de Lacerda wrote:
> I must agree with Michael on this. If done correctly, the philosophy 
> talk will rather become a motivational talk -- what better students to 
> have than those who are intrinsically motivated to learn? You might 
> argue that being intrinsically motivated is a precondition to 
> attending this event, but one might be motivated for the wrong reasons 
> (don't forget that you're dealing with beginners).

This is exactly the reason I suggest starting off with a quick introduction.  
The introduction should be enough to motivate, and get people wanting to learn 
more.  The learning more follows.

At the same time, we don’t alienate those less interested in the philosophy.  
If they’re not interested they’re not interested, but if free software can 
benefit them in ways visible to them, those that matter, then, while not as 
good as having people understand the philosophy, it has more people using free 
software, and re‐claiming the freedoms lost with proprietary software.

Simon
--
A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple 
system that works.—John Gall