[W2l] Welcome-to-Linux/Welcome-to-FOSS Planning - what we'd like to have

[Ori Idan]

As allways I volunteer to give the philosophy lecture.
I can also give a rerun of the living in the community lecture.

-- 
Ori Idan


On Sat, Sep 19, 2009 at 4:54 PM, Shlomi Fish <shlomif at iglu.org.il> wrote:

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