Hi all!
From Saturday 14th to Sunday 15th January 2012 has took place the Cerea fair (VR) in Italy. I and other members of FSUGItalia have participated at the “Electronics and amateur radio fair” in Cerea (Verona) presenting openSUSE to the public.
We must start by saying that, as is typical of these kind of events, the fair has been a great success, big participation and queues in front of the entrance from the early hours of the opening. From rumours heard during Sunday, overall, there were about 20000 visitors. The organization of the fair has given us a great place, the first booth near the entrance! In addition to openSUSE promotional material, we set up the stand with 4 notebooks and 3 netbooks. The computers were equipped with openSUSE 12.1 configured with different desktop manager to emphasize the flexibility and power of a distribution, that can work perfectly on the newest hardware as well as the oldest. A large number of people came to ask us about what openSUSE is. The computers exhibited have attracted the attention of passers, that, in many cases, were unaware of the existence of the GNU/Linux operating systems, and those few who knew them already, usually were familiar only to Ubuntu. Both categories of people were surprised to discover and try openSUSE. In particular, we noticed that the most interested people in learning openSUSE were those in the age group of fifty years and older, and that, in many cases, showed a remarkable familiarity with GNU/Linux.In detail, many of them have told us that already use Ubuntu, but they wanted to leave it because they are not comfortable with the Unity interface. The most frequent question was inherent to the differences between Ubuntu and openSUSE and what are the advantages of this second operating system. Before the event we had contacted representatives of the LUG (Linux User Group) near Cerea, and during the fair, we have delivered to them promotional material to distribute. Because of the enthusiasm of the audience, we had to ration the promotional material (promoDVD), because otherwise they would not be enough for both days. On Sunday evening we had distributed all the material at our disposal (300 promo DVD and all flyers) and someone have also asked the posters! An event with such a big audience is definitely challenging and very tiring but we have got a great success that has rewarded us for all the efforts made to achieve this participation. The enthusiasm and interest of the people involved also the organizers, that have proposed to us to participate in future editions of this fair. Here: http://denebinside.wordpress.com/2012/01/21/report-cerea-fair/ you can find the report (Italian/English) of the Cerea Fair (Italy). Other useful informations are reachable here: http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Cerea_Fair We are editing a video and uploading a photo gallery; as soon as possible all the materials will be online. Regards, deneb -- Marina Latini http://www.fsugitalia.org openSUSE Ambassador: deneb_alpha http://www.educoo.it -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+owner@opensuse.org