On Mon, 2007-10-29 at 17:42 +0100, M. Fioretti wrote: > On Mon, Oct 29, 2007 11:00:35 AM -0400, William Case (billlinux@xxxxxxxxxx) wrote: > > Hi; > > > > This question is good for one day only. > > Hope I'm still on time then! > > > I am giving a talk tonight to about 20 people about Linux. All of > > them will be Windows users and all will be very non-tech.... Do you > > know of a site I could recommend as a starting place for this type > > of Windows audience that I could I could use in my little sales > > pitch tonight? > > First of all, I would suggest http://www.reallylinux.com/ > "International Site for Linux Beginners" > > Warning now, self-promotion ahead! > > Considering the audience you described, I'll also dare to suggest > that, before going to the talk, you read my "Seven Things we're tired > of hearing from software hackers" at http://digifreedom.net/node/56 : > while it's not about Linux specifically, it may help you to not spend > too much time presenting to your audience arguments that are really > NO relevant for them. > > Hope this helps, > Marco Fioretti Only one comment, Marco, Actually more people program than ever before. It is just that arcane languages do not attract them, nor does hardly anyone learn or want to learn assembly language. However, many people create list managers, databases in some form, spreadsheets, even use interfaces with word processors to create various forms of HTML and XHTML code. They often don't know programming is actually what they are doing, but that is because the continuing evolution of software and hardware mask the nasty underlying details. It is this same form that is driving the development of gui-implemented object oriented development such as JAVA. Some interesting effects are just beginning to grow out of the decades of AI and Neural Net developments, and these, too will have revolutionizing effects on the computer world, although the revolution and evolution is apparently slow right now, just keep watching. Add Mems, Optical computing, 3d interfaces and virtual reality, and the scope really opens up. There are millions on Second life, each of whom created an avatar, many of whom have added special effects to their avatars, some by purchasing them, some by tailoring existing code and others by coding from scratch in Linden Script. Another developing environment is interactive community development. Check out the last three years of development on Croquet to get some idea of a full 3-D interactive cooperative development environment, from music, to artful creations, the scale of development is mind boggling. Yes, most people don't "program" in the sense of sitting down, drawing up dependency diagrams, interviewing users, and doing a full march development project (come to think of it, how many such projects even exist without the bit bangers getting something interesting going by guess and by golly first?) The whole thing is more complex than that. True not everyone is a hacker in driver or OS code, but most people do run programs, if only to get their kids to pick up their rooms. They just don't realize it, and so it is heading with computers. Stay tuned... Regards, Les H
