[clue-tech] Fall and penguins.

[David L. Willson]

> So can we do anything to attract a broader audience?  What do you think?

Here is my loose collection of rattling thoughts, for whatever they're worth.  Do pardon
the rambling...

I don't think we can do anything to attract a significantly ~broader~ audience, because
I think Linux is still not what the average Joe or Jane user wants.  However, I think we
can make ourselves better known to our target audience.

There are two types of people that will use Linux (I think):  Geeks that will pick it,
because they want it, and normal users that have it chosen for them.  Why geeks want it
could be any of three things: It's free (as in beer).  It's fun (as in powerful, edgy,
and free as in speech).  And it's cool (as in "not Windows", "not MacOS", "not what
everyone else is running").  For whatever reason, different is, for some people,
inherently better.

The normal users that had it picked for them won't come to us to learn it, because they
don't want to learn it.  They only want to know where the "send" and "print" buttons
are.  I don't think there's any point in trying to teach the "car drivers", to call back
your automotive analogy, Dave, because we (mostly) don't want to become application
experts, and because they don't care, and because applications change, and because they
are consumers, and we still need more farmers.

The geeks, though, they will come to us to learn it, to get their particular job done,
and some of them will come to "love freedom", as LUGradio puts it.  They'll join us to
teach other geeks.

There is one non-geek group of people that really likes Linux, but I've no idea what to
do with them, how to advertise to them, or what do do with them once they're "brought
in".  But, ~kids~ really like things (games) that work.  They don't have the "lost
interoperability" FUD that grown-ups have, and they are naturally curious.  I don't know
any kids that don't want dual-boot systems after a short time with me.

The trick then, I think, is to let the curious geeks know we're here, and willing to
help.  And, to get Linux in front of more kids, and get them the basics of finding and
installing all the free games.

Or, maybe Linux is not an end in itself, and we should change our focus to "free
software", which might be a meaningful end in itself, and which encompasses Linux but
doesn't limit itself thereto.

hmm... Lot's of "maybe" and "I think" there.  I'm happy to hear from someone with a
clearer picture.

-- David