[clue-tech] Fall and penguins.

[Dave Maddox]

Here's my two cents, then. Both from my own perspective as one who 
almost dual-booted his laptop but didn't, and from the perspective of a 
somewhat tentative Linux adopter also with a Windows laptop.

Both of us fit what I've seen in previous messages - that CLUE can 
provide the "activation energy" to get us over the hump. In my friend's 
case, he would gladly install Linux dual-boot but is afraid he'll goof 
and "mess up his hard drive." I told him that CLUE might have better 
odds in that department, then, having had plenty of experience. I know, 
backups still advised...

For myself, my poor hard drive is just too fragmented, when I tried to 
install I got errors which traced to that being unbearable, at least for 
Ubuntu. So my first step is backup and restore or something, which I 
haven't gotten around to. I also thought about booting from an external 
drive, but my laptop is not really into that sort of thing, it likes CDs 
and network only. So, maybe there's some other option, or maybe a kick 
in the butt would suffice. Either way, a little of that energy...

And yes, visibility. So many groups, so little time, somehow it's gotta 
be visible. Even craigslist or something I guess.

My fallback, still, is to get an old desktop. And I do have my nice 
little Eeeeeee PC, which I think deserves a *real* distro some day, not 
just Xandros.

Ok, more like 45c, but still.

Thanks!
Dave

David L. Willson a écrit :
>> 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
>
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