[ale] Notes from Jun 19th meeting

[aaron]

I have to add a note to the list of happy agreements
with Daniel's revelation (quoted at end).

I don't think anyone here can seriously disagree that the
Linux environment has grown to become a very desirable
and sustainable option for general home, business and
educational applications. Linux doesn't just compare
favorably with common commercial offerings in terms
of abilities and features, either. Several major vendors
are now shipping desktops, laptops, portables and
mobile network appliances with Linux pre-installed,
and there are strong consumer support communities
building up around Ubuntu, Mandriva, Linspire, GOS
and other distros, and all of this is serving to make
Linux competitive in terms of real world support as well.

I think another big part of the growing adoption of Linux
is that there are a number of effective and improving
tools to address migration and legacy software issues,
from wine and Crossover Office to the increasingly
transparent Virtual Machine solutions. Still, as clear cut
and undeniable as the advantages of migrating to Linux
are, I think it's important for OSS advocates to also
(openly) acknowledge that the benefits of switching to
a Free, Open Source environment do not always come
without some costs or compromises. Chiefly, the "Free
as in Beer" benefits only apply to our brands of Beer,
and that drink menu is never going to be a one to one
match with every expensive froufrou commercial
coolaid concoction for which wealthy drunks are
accustomed to paying staggering bar tabs to drink.
Rather than further enable an expensive obsession
with little paper parasols, we need to persistently
remind the public of the hard costs of their hard liquor
addiction and the liabilities that are associated with
their risky behaviors.

Stated without the colorful but accurate analogies,
the reality is that providing operationally identical,
Free OSS replacements for every custom, specialty
or niche market legacy application out there is a
practical impossibility. Laboring too heavily on the
tasks of extricating archaic programs from years of
accumulated windoze muck, or rescuing niche
applications that refuse to adapt to changing
environments, only serves to delay and distract from
the more essential and positive work of helping guide
the world to Linux and Open Source solutions.

The big picture fact that needs to be front and center
in Open Source promotion is that the compromises
needed to migrate to a Linux software environment
are diminishing daily. The hard to fit niches are become
increasingly rare as Linux use continues to grow and
more commercial enterprises realize that their migration
to Open Source isn't just practical and profitable, it is
inevitable.

peace
aaron

PS:  I still occasionally miss Amiga Deluxe Paint (IV)
for it's simplicity and ease of use in creating digital art,
animations and flashy color cycled bitmap images.
I have yet to find an OPERATIONALLY similar program
for any other OS, but the advantages of moving to OSeX
and Linux and the many FUNCTIONALLY similar but
more capable tools they provide make the pangs of
nostalgia silly and irrelevant.


======
On Saturday 21 June 2008 22:38, Daniel Howard wrote:
> Thanks Mike for the Inkscape solution, I'll show my teachers that one 
> first of next year.  Coupled with the graphics on OpenClipArt, it should 
> meet the needs of both teachers and non-profits.
> 
> Jim's commentary got me thinking: what I need to do is stop arguing 
> about supporting an old application, and focus on what they can do with 
> the new system.  With K12LTSP and TeacherTool, teachers have 
> unprecedented control over what kids do with the computers, even beyond 
> what they're seeing at the Educational Tech conferences to which Jim 
> referred.  So, for my next school, I'm going to include a demo of 
> TeacherTool and show them why a thin client architecture makes sense and 
> what they can do with it is well beyond what they currently do.  I'm 
> guessing that a new capability/software application will trump any 
> resistance from supporting an old application, especially if I can show 
> them they can still do the old stuff if they really want to.
> 
> Still learning in Atlanta,
> Daniel
> 
> -- 
> Daniel Howard
> President and CEO
> Georgia Open Source Education Foundation