[ale] OT: This makes me mad.

[Preston Boyington]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Philips [mailto:jcphil at mindspring.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2003 6:02 PM
> To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
> Subject: [ale] OT: This makes me mad.
> 
> 
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> Yesterday, I followed a banner link to an organization called 
> TechSoup. It's a 
> loose consortium of consultants who help non-profits set up 
> the computer 
> services they need. When I look at their affiliates in the 
> Atlanta area here:
> 
> http://www.techsoup.org/resources/index.cfm?action=resource.vi
> ew_summary&resourcelist_id=11&order=title
> 
> It seems like the ones in Atlanta are all specializing in 
> Microsoft products. 
> I hardly need to explain why this is bad. The non-profits who 
> are thus 
> "helped" are getting hooked on MS license fees and the whole 
> closed-end model 
> of software. They could be spending more of their valuable 
> dollars on helping 
> people. Back when we had our "unemployed" meeting we were 
> talking about 
> forming a loosely based consulting company. I really wish we 
> could resurrect 
> this idea, but along the TechSoup model. There ought to be 
> Linux consultants 
> who could introduce non-profits to the benefits of using open source 
> software. How could we get this idea rolling?
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Although not a "consultant" I have helped a local women's shelter move to
linux.  RH8, OpenOffice, Mozilla, and XMMS (you _must_ be able to listen
while you work) fit their needs rather well.

Most states are cutting their budgets and non-profits are not getting the
grants they used to receive (which weren't huge to begin with) so this would
be an excellent time to initiate a Linux movement in these places.

preston