[PLUG] Coordination and Planning

Thu Apr 25 05:14:20 UTC 2002

Nicely put.

I think the two approaches are not entirely incompatible. In the near term,
especially if the schools don't ask for help, there may not be a lot we can
do in the way of direct support. But just to make sure....

Someone mentioned a press release. (Sorry, I've lost track of who's who
in all these e-mails.) I picture a press release in the very near future that 
pledges PLUG's support of the schools in this matter and states our 
willingness to help out. This press release would serve several purposes:

1. Provide contact information so that if some school districts *do* want to 
get some help then at least they'll know who to call. We should not be 
insulted if they don't call. Under the circumstances it seems best to let the 
schools figure out how to handle the next 60 days. Besides, this is a bad 
time of the school year to be overhauling the IT system. These sorts of
things are normally done over the summer. (Notice MS didn't wait until
summer to ask for the audit.)

2. Put a shot across the bow of the HMS MS (?).

3. Hopefully get it slashdotted and thereby encourage LUGs in other cites
to get involved with their local schools before this happens to them. I'd love
to see similar press releases coming out other LUGs. To me that would be the 
sweetest thing that could happen in the near term. 

It would be really cool if this was a joint press release from several
Northwest LUGs.

That might be all we can do in this 60-day period. Then we have to look at the
longer term where we transition from being just volunteers to being
advocates, pressing the point to decision makers that open source is their 
path out from under the obnoxious monopoly from the North. Along with this 
advocacy, we also have to solve the practical problem of finding a suitable 
Linux application for every Windows application that is used in the schools. 
This could take several years, and in fact it may be that there will always 
be some percentage of Windows boxes in the schools, which is probably okay
as long as the end result is that Windows becomes an option instead of a 
necessity. Then MS will have be polite.

Terry

On Wednesday 24 April 2002 09:47 am, sendai wrote:
> Ok, here is a general outline of what I see happening here.
>
> We appear to have two groups represented here.  One group feels that we
> should take a passive approach, slowly building a case and finding our own
> support where we can.  This group feels that the audit will likely happen
> and there is nothing we can do about that and I am inclined to agree.  We
> are dealing with an administration and nothing gets done quickly.  This is
> why Microsoft gave them so little time to meet their demands.  They know
> that there is insufficient time for an alternative to be planned and
> implemented.
>
> The other group wants to take an active approach, get in now and make the
> changes and force the public to take notice and hopefully provide support.
> They realize that something must begin now and that waiting will only work
> against us.  I agree with this.  Once the school districts have MS in their
> budget it will take alot more work to get it out.
>
> What we need is a merging of these attitudes.  The more organized and
> methodical of a front we can present to the public the more likely we are
> to get support.  RedHat has already stated in response to the USDOJ vs.
> Microsoft proposed settlement that would offer software and support to
> schools if MS would provide hardware.  There is a good chance that we could
> get them to make this same agreement with us.  That would give us the
> corporate support needed to be taken seriously.
>
> This is not just about MS vs. Linux it is about acountability for our tax
> dollars as well.  A friend of mine is a teacher for a PSD school that
> cannot afford new books so they are forced to share books that are
> literally falling apart and missing pages.  They don't have any workbooks. 
> The computers and software are grossly outdated, half the time the printers
> are down, which is a big deal when you don't have workbooks.  The money
> that should be spent buying them decent books and workbooks and upgrading
> to reasonable hardware is being spent instead on MS.  This is wrong.  The
> schools exist to provide an education not support a monopoly when there is
> a more affordable, viable alternative.  This is offensive not only to the
> parents with children in these schools, but to the public who is paying for
> something they are not getting.
>
> The easiest solution to this is to work with the K12Linux project since
> they have the resources in place already.  However, if they are not
> interested in a more active approach then now is the time to start
> something else.  Dylan just mentioned that he could write a good press
> release and mount a PR campaign.  We need this kind of support since the
> public is our best ally. If they support us then the schools will have to
> do the right thing.  I will be attempting to open preliminary talks with
> RedHat this afternoon, so the sooner we get together and discuss this the
> better.  What is best for everyone as far as times and meeting places?  Can
> I assume tomorrow is too soon?  Let me know and we will work on a location.
>  This will be very informal and just a means to get our ideas together and
> decide what direction to go.  If we could get a representative from the
> K12Linux project to come it would be very good.  Many of the statements in
> this email may be incorrect or poorly founded, but that is why we need a
> meeting.  Let's get this going.
>
> Nick Iglehart
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: plug-admin at lists.pdxlinux.org
> [mailto:plug-admin at lists.pdxlinux.org]On Behalf Of david may
> Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2002 9:53 AM
> To: plug at lists.pdxlinux.org
> Subject: [PLUG] Coordination and Planning
>
>
> I think what is necessary right now is a framework. A commons.
> Build it and they will come.
> Leadership will emerge from that. And it very likely will
> not be from the ranks of Geekdom.
>
> The eductional community needs to be part of the process, not
> simply "targets" or a linux vs MS battlefield.
>
> I see the linux community as the engineers that "make it go".
> But we are often too easily caught up in the mechanics to be
> very good leaders.
>
> But "we can make it go" a lot better than the rest :-)
>
> davud
>
> >>>>> "Dylan" == Dylan Reinhardt <dylan at dylanreinhardt.com> writes:
>
>     Dylan> Normally, a "do what you want" approach seems to produce
>     Dylan> good results in Open Source / Free Software projects.
>
>     Dylan> But we aren't tweaking a kernel here.  Responding to
>     Dylan> Microsoft's threat will require coordination, a plan, and
>     Dylan> most of all *leadership*.
>
>     Dylan> That's because we're talking about existing organizations
>     Dylan> with existing plans and resources already deployed.  Having
>     Dylan> a bunch of volunteers descend on schools and upgrade
>     Dylan> computers willy-nilly probably won't be very helpful unless
>     Dylan> it's part of a robust plan.  Managing 25K installations at
>     Dylan> dozens of locations doesn't just happen.
>
>     Dylan> I'm willing to give significant time and what skills I
>     Dylan> have.  So are many people here... but I don't hear anyone
>     Dylan> from the schools asking for our help just yet.
>
>     Dylan> Absent that request, I would suggest that we turn our
>     Dylan> energy toward things like drawing attention to the issue.
>     Dylan> MS stands to gain a few million dollars by shaking down
>     Dylan> schools?  I bet we could cost them at least that much in
>     Dylan> bad publicity if we put our heads together.
>
>     Dylan> In many ways, it's not really about Portland Public Schools
>     Dylan> at all.  They are in a really tight spot here, but it's not
>     Dylan> as though they aren't already well aware of how to deploy
>     Dylan> Linux.  The larger audience for our message are schools,
>     Dylan> organizations and businesses who think that they can afford
>     Dylan> Windoze b/c they are just too small or unprofitable for MS
>     Dylan> to bother with license enforcement.  Some of these
>     Dylan> organizations might hear this story and realize that they
>     Dylan> want to start working on a migration plan ASAP.
>
>     Dylan> As I said, I would pitch in and help PPS at the drop of a
>     Dylan> hat... but only if they want my help.  In the mean time, I
>     Dylan> wonder if we shouldn't be focusing our energy and outrage
>     Dylan> at the larger issues this incident represents.
>
>     Dylan> My $0.02...
>
>     Dylan> Dylan
>
>
>
>     Dylan> _______________________________________________ PLUG
>     Dylan> mailing list PLUG at lists.pdxlinux.org
>     Dylan> http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
>
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