Purple Shirt wrote:
I have been wondering about Linux and schools the past days. In many news articles about Linux they mention that Linux at first is something for geeks and therefore profoundly used in schools and universities. I can never really agree with this. When I look at my university here in mid-Michigan I got to say nothing is further from the truth.
Linux *is* my university (e.g., http://developer.kde.org/documentation/index.html ).
Yes, we have 100 people on the linux mailing list here in the area and there is some Linux servers around and DNS is done on *BSD and we got the campus mail system on AIX but that is as far as it goes. The rest is land of the proprietory systems.
I have often wanted a graduate program specifically directed toward GNU/Linux and OSS in general. Such a program would have the advantage of having absolutely unrestricted access to a fully functional, state of the art, suite of software.
I feel disappointed at how Linux has made no inroads in this area. You see all the conferences scheduled, all the major talks and big business deals taking place everyday but you don't ever hear about a Linux company making its way down to campus and approaching the youth. I know there is some hands on tours of SuSE in Germany but nothing similar seems to be happinging in the USA.
Linux companies dont *approach* youth, they *undermine* the moral integrity of youthful consumers of *the* software company... But then I'm all for subversion!
I have been trying to introduce Linux to friends and people I run across on campus but it is hard work. It is tough to convince somebody of something they never heard off.
Well them tell them about it. Then you are past the first hurdle. I'd heard of Linux for a long time before I tried it. I'm actually suprised you are meeting a lot of people who have never heard of Linux. The word seems to be out. But then again, no one I meet hasn't heard of Linux...at least after they meet me. ;-)
I even tried to bring Linux closer to the people in my department where I work but have failed so far. We got a mainframe down the hall here as well and I kept sending articles about Linux to people in charge but there was never any replies. There is no way this mainframe will ever run Linux unless a SuSE representative makes his way straight into our offices and explains face to face why Linux is a solution for us.
If I were you, I'd start a bit less ambitiously. You/we need to grass-roots Linux. The cutoff for Linux entry is not as high as it used to be, but Linux is still not something that would be appropreate for my mother. Linux still requires proactive involvement. You have to want to reach for something more. My mother only wants to improve her golf game and keep in touch with here children. She dosen't want to explore the new and wonderful features of the KDE2. On the other hand, if the folks in the data center who run your mainframe know nothing about Linux, there is certainly something wrong. Don't just send e-mail. My Gods, you're at a university. It's your job to stop in and find out who runs the place. Ask them what they know about Linux. You might be suprised who is into Linux. I ocasionally deal with technical folks from NSA. There are some very devoted Linux hackers over there.
You can barely get our Computer Science professors interested into Linux as they get shoved down their throats any Microsoft product on the market.
Crack open some source. Read it. Find some interesting points that you may not fully understand and bring the code to them with questions. Do term papars on Linux and present them to the class.
I see college towns as one of the most condensed living spaces around the US. During regular semesters a campus turns into an ants nest. Shouldn't this be an area Linux companies should target?
What does Linux have to do with beer?
I like to have personalities like Linus speak at universities around the country. I don't understand why this has not been done. I know I will not make it to any conference anytime soon but I surely would NEVER miss a speech of an open-source affiliate if it happened on campus. Even if it was a select number of schools. I know Linux fans from all over Michigan, maybe Ohio and Indiana would travel to 'U of M' if an event was scheduled there.
What's the University of Maryland have to do with Michigan? ;-)
I sure hope Linux exposure from you on campuses will increase because I feel left alone to fight this fight.
Poster campagne. Yup! that's how! Splatter the campus with posters of the Li'l Green Lizard. Make them somewhat vauge and very subversive looking. Never mention *the* software company by name. Get people wondering WTH this L'il Green Lizard is. Hey and Konquie(sp) could come along for the ride to.
mk
College was a major disapointment to me. I dropped out of high school in the 10th grade. I tried to compensate by learning everything I could about everything. When I finally got into a university, I found very few people who shared my lust for learning. Such is life. Keep the faith, Steve -- For a look at the future click below: http://www.suse.com || http://www.linuxbase.org http://www.kde.org || http://samba.anu.edu.au http://www.winehq.com || http://www.mozilla.org -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/support/faq