Re: OT Need to find a really good Linux introductory site ??

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On Mon, Oct 29, 2007 12:49:34 PM -0700, Les (hlhowell@xxxxxxxxxxx) wrote:
> On Mon, 2007-10-29 at 17:42 +0100, M. Fioretti wrote:
> > 
> > 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.

Strictly speaking, yes, but are they meaningful? Of course, more
people "program" now than in the preindustrial era, it couldn't be
different today. Going by your definition, every cell phone user is a
programmer.

But this doesn't mean that they see at all the underlying issues and
care in the slightest about them. This is still a world and age where
most VCRs clocks still blink at 12:00. Where people who have been
using personal computers for many years still tell you "to save the
file, click on that small TV picture up there" or, to see a landscape
picture in portrait mode during a slideshow, turn their laptop
sideways (yes, these are both real things that I or my wife witnessed
personally).

So the limits I mention still apply: the overwhelming majority of
those "programmers" simply doesn't really understand what they are
doing, no matter how cool and savy they may look, and they'll never
sync in on the usual pro-FOSS arguments (the "seven things") that were
enough to convert software users of the 80's.

Actually, I also fear that this complacency that I've already noticed
in many FOSS activists may be one of the biggest obstacles and dangers
in making FOSS really mainstream: "hey, look at how many computers and
other processors (clocks, TVs, cell phones) all the folks around me
have and use daily: it's obvious that we're all geeks by now and that
this makes triumph of FOSS unavoidable".

Ciao,
	Marco
-- 
Help *everybody* love Free Standards and Free Software!
http://digifreedom.net


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