<div dir="ltr">As allways I volunteer to give the philosophy lecture.<br>I can also give a rerun of the living in the community lecture.<br><br>-- <br>Ori Idan<br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Sep 19, 2009 at 4:54 PM, Shlomi Fish <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:shlomif@iglu.org.il">shlomif@iglu.org.il</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Hi all!<br>
<br>
Well, as you may have noticed, there wasn't a general consensus on whether<br>
"Welcome-to-Linux" (= W2L) or "Welcome-to-FOSS" (= W2FOSS) were better.<br>
However, looking at the schedule at:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://welcome.linux.org.il/2008/timetable.html" target="_blank">http://welcome.linux.org.il/2008/timetable.html</a><br>
<br>
it seems very old-fashioned and rehearsed. We can just keep the slides and<br>
refer people to them. As the Telux/TelFOSS "benevolent dictator"[1], I think<br>
we'll do something which is kind-of in between.<br>
<br>
What I think is that we need at first is a two part series. The first<br>
installment (not necessarily the first one to be given) will be a showcase of<br>
lots of FOSS (Linux, but also portable software) awesomeness-factor: graphics,<br>
features, usability, some free games[2], Amarok, kaffeine/totem, etc. We<br>
should remember that using a laptop (with Linux or otherwise) and having an<br>
Internet there are mutually exclusive, unless we can get Eddie to somehow give<br>
us the necessary Tel Aviv Uni INET privileges.<br>
<br>
The second installment will be about the FOSS philosophy, ideology and its<br>
practical implications. The summary of it that I have so far is:<br>
<br>
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<br>
Welcome-to-Linux / Welcome-to-FOSS abstract<br>
-------------------------------------------<br>
<br>
* Introduction:<br>
- What is Free Software/Open Source:<br>
- source code<br>
- analogy to wikipedia. (?)<br>
- Edit/View source.<br>
- The FSF Free Software Definition<br>
- FOSS != Public Domain<br>
- copyleft.<br>
- some restrictions.<br>
- share-alike<br>
- permissive licences (BSDL, X11L, etc.)<br>
- do what you want with them?<br>
- mostly<br>
-<br>
<br>
* Examples of open source software:<br>
- Firefox.<br>
- OpenOffice.org<br>
- Linux.<br>
- what is an operating system.<br>
- A free kernel.<br>
- The GNU/Linux run-time.<br>
- lots of names - X11 (X.Org), KDE, GNOME, OpenSSH.<br>
- don't be alarmed.<br>
- Other similar OSes (FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD).<br>
- Many distributions.<br>
- all packaging the same FOSS components (with some<br>
modifications).<br>
- Different glue, behaviour and features.<br>
- Different bugs.<br>
- Our recommended distributions:<br>
- Fedora<br>
- Mandriva<br>
- Ubuntu<br>
- links to pages with information about them<br>
- material of previous presentations.<br>
-<br>
<br>
* Advantages of open-source:<br>
- May not cost money.<br>
- gratis/costless/free-as-in-free-beer.<br>
- freely distributable<br>
- Note: it's ok to sell it!<br>
- Story of Stallman selling tapes of GNU software to people who<br>
could not download them from the Internet.<br>
- Can be modified and enhanced:<br>
- study the source to learn how the program works.<br>
- for enlightenement.<br>
- to compensate for lacking documentation.<br>
-<br>
- fix bugs.<br>
- add new features.<br>
- refactoring.<br>
- fork<br>
- Use the Internet for collaboration<br>
- Bazaar model of development.<br>
- Refer to the Cathedral and the Bazaar series.<br>
- Not anti-commercial / anti-business.<br>
- Many valid business models.<br>
- Examples (?)<br>
- Lots of profitable companies.<br>
- As opposed to tangible goods (e.g: hammers, cars, food), software<br>
once developed, can be mass-produced at zero cost.<br>
- Many developers develop FOSS for fun<br>
- Many developers get paid to develop it.<br>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><br>
<br>
It could use some work, but I hope you get my drift, and suggestions will be<br>
welcome.<br>
<br>
After these two presentation (whose order I'm still not sure about but I'm<br>
leaning to make the first one the first.) we can have a presentation for<br>
developers covering the various options for FOSS development (not only C or<br>
even only Java) and maybe then have some Haifux-like "Staying-in-FOSS"<br>
presentations. These seems more hip, more modern and less resource consuming<br>
than having a 5-installments long series just about Linux.<br>
<br>
I also see that Haifux will have a Welcome-to-Linux series this year, and<br>
would like to commend them for it.<br>
<br>
Thoughts anyone?<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
<br>
Shlomi Fish<br>
<br>
[1] - not "for life", though. I welcome spin-offs of Telux, coups, etc.<br>
<br>
[2] - Yes, I know that they are not up-to-par with commercial offerings, (see<br>
the other thread) but many open-source games can still be impressive: PySolFC,<br>
Extreme Tux Racer, etc. These can provide a large glitz factor too.<br>
<br>
--<br>
-----------------------------------------------------------------<br>
Shlomi Fish <a href="http://www.shlomifish.org/" target="_blank">http://www.shlomifish.org/</a><br>
Parody on "The Fountainhead" - <a href="http://shlom.in/towtf" target="_blank">http://shlom.in/towtf</a><br>
<br>
Chuck Norris read the entire English Wikipedia in 24 hours. Twice.<br>
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</blockquote></div><br></div>