[PLUG] We need more Linux in this town...

Michael Moore moore.michael.m at gmail.com
Tue Dec 1 19:00:23 UTC 2009


On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 10:10 AM, Mike Connors <mconnors1 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I want to live and work in a community that thinks about why and how they do things. What I'm getting at really is the process, or my
> perceived lack thereof, of selecting and implementing software for a biz. My personal approach is to look for the FOSS solution first. If it
> doesn't suit my needs or there's just a set of features that I just can't live without then go seek out a commercial closed source prod

My own guess is that most people not aware of/interested in things
technological don't view the computer or the software it runs as being
integrally involved in "why and how they do things."  All the
non-profits I've been involved with in the area are using Microsoft
products.  These are agencies that always go begging for money, devote
considerable resources to fundraising (some get government funds, some
do not), and in general are as likely to have laid staff off over the
past year as your typical small-to-mid-size for-profit business.
Almost all are passionate and clear-eyed about what they do, what they
see as their missions, and continually are re-examining and revamping
procedures, policies, structures, messaging, and everything else about
the "why and how" to accomplish their goals -- everything, that is,
except the technology they use.  If you ask them, "technology" means,
broadly, what social media websites/apps-of-the-month they might use
to help them help their clients or constituents or help them find more
donors.  That's as much as they think about it; Linux or FOSS isn't on
their radars.  I know of only one non-profit that got a computer from
Free Geek, and the guy who runs the non-profit promptly put out an
email appeal for funds to buy a Microsoft license for the box.

And, honestly, I can't think of a good reason why Linux/FOSS should be
on their radars, except that it would provide a generally better user
experience (IMO, of course -- not everyone would agree with that).
Unless or until someone comes along and shows them how much money they
could save using FOSS, or shows them something valuable they could do
with it that they can't do now, there is no reason for them to bother
with the time and expense of replacing their technology
infrastructure.

Recently, I started volunteering at TPI (Transitions Project, Inc.),
which runs three shelters in Portland.  On Sundays, I go in to the
shelter on Glisan and open up the resource room, which has four
Windows boxes the guys staying there can use.  (It's a 90-bed men's
shelter that provides housing for up to four months; 60% of the
residents are veterans.)  The computers are pretty slow -- they are
machines previously used by TPI staff that otherwise would have been
discarded -- but they work.  TPI could definitely get better machines
from Free Geek, but since resumes have to be in .doc format, I'm not
sure how much good that would do the residents.

Michael M.



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