I'd like to welcome Nitin Sookun as new ambassador to Mauritius, below is his introduction, Andreas ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Hello Andreas, Glad to see your mail. * What have you done already for openSUSE? Well, to start with what I've already done for openSUSE, I'm running version 11.3 on a few computers at two of Indra Cybercafés. I've always been a Linux lover but till now the biggest hurdle to get the young population using Linux was gaming. Recently, we used Wine to run Counter Strike 1.6 on LAN in one of our cybercafés and it was an awesome experience. Many gamers present there found it thrilling and wanted to run the same on their home pc. Now, in Mauritius the average home broadband is of 512kbps and they have limited bandwidths. So, I offered the guys chance to burn DVDs from the images we already downloaded in the cybercafé. Now, two of the cybercafés where openSUSE is already running, many people visit us for advices, or tweaking tips. When we started this "Linux Awareness" we ran openSUSE 11.1, Fedora 12 and Ubuntu 9.10. Among these, openSUSE and Ubuntu were the most liked ones. So, we decided to go ahead with these two distros. I registered my company as a partner with Novell, and also contacted Canonical for Ubuntu. With Canonical it was kind of unpleasant for us because we had to commit a minimum amount of Ubuntu units, which was far too large for a small population of computer/internet users in Mauritius. With Novell it was easier because they had the Silver Partner Level which didn't impose any kind of "commitment" to start business. Our initial idea was to make people aware of Linux and introduce them to these distros. These involved a lot of marketing/time on our side and with a Canonical partnership, this became difficult. However, with Novell we have the chance to provide corporate solutions through SUSE Enterprise Linux and still spread the word about openSUSE without affecting business. * What are your plans for promoting openSUSE? I'm planning to run openSUSE on all machines in our 3 cybercafés. This will amount to 100 computers running openSUSE, and consequently more people getting used to it. To solve the hurdles of gaming on Linux, we're also contacting codeweavers, to run "crossover games" on PCs intended for LAN gaming. We also provide IT Solutions & Support and have a retail store. We're planning to provide PCs with openSUSE pre-installed and sell openSUSE box packages through the retail stores. The more adventurous Linux enthusiasts will surely like to buy their own copy and experience it! * Are you ready to start promoting openSUSE? Yes. In fact, I already have a bunch of college/university students (regulars of Indra Cybercafé), who upon hearing my idea of openSUSE promotion, are keen to help. They are all Linux lovers and are waiting for the chance when they will receive the "backing" of a great distro! We intend to introduce openSUSE in schools, and government-run 'social welfare centres' where people get free computer/internet access. * What do you think is the best kept secret of openSUSE? Hmm... I guess that one you're going to teach me ;) * Why do you love to do this? Like I told you, I'm a Linux lover and I just enjoying spreading the word about it. * How did you start with with Linux/openSUSE? What is your level of experience? I started something like 10 years ago, during college days. My first Linux experience was with Red Hat 6.0. It was awesome! As time went by I got to know many other distros, and was always keen to test any as soon as it was available for download. Well... I'm comfortable with installation & configs, I can use Terminal and ease and do some enough tweaks and customizations to make my desktop elegant. Linux commands are also fine for me, well most of them. I've created LAN and also wireless networks using openSUSE. Network, files and printer sharing etc. Well, I think I'm good enough to recommend someone using openSUSE and help if they need me :) As soon as you show me the green light I'll start organizing my team here and plan the openSUSE promotion. -- Andreas Jaeger, Program Manager openSUSE, aj@{novell.com,opensuse.org} Twitter: jaegerandi | Identica: jaegerandi SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, GF: Markus Rex, HRB 16746 (AG Nürnberg) Maxfeldstr. 5, 90409 Nürnberg, Germany GPG fingerprint = 93A3 365E CE47 B889 DF7F FED1 389A 563C C272 A126