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- Linux Advocacy mini-HOWTO
- Paul L. Rogers, Paul.L.Rogers@li.org
- v0.5, 7 May 1998
-
- This document provides suggestions for how the Linux community can
- effectively advocate the use of Linux.
- ______________________________________________________________________
-
- Table of Contents
-
-
- 1. About this document
-
- 2. Copyright Information
-
- 3. Introduction
-
- 4. Related Information
-
- 5. Advocating Linux
-
- 6. Canons of Conduct
-
- 7. User Groups
-
- 8. Vendor Relations
-
- 9. Media Relations
-
- 10. Acknowledgements
-
-
-
- ______________________________________________________________________
-
- 1. About this document
-
-
- This is the Linux Advocacy mini-HOWTO and is intended to provide
- guidelines and ideas to assist with your Linux advocacy efforts.
-
- This mini-HOWTO was inspired by Jon ``maddog'' Hall when he responded
- to a request for feedback on guidelines for advocating Linux during
- NetDay <http://www.netday.org> activities. He responded positively to
- the guidelines and observed that they were the basis of a list of
- ``canons of conduct'' that would benefit the Linux community.
-
- This document is available in HTML form at
- http://www.datasync.com/~rogerspl/Advocacy-HOWTO.html.
-
- Nat Makarevitch <nat@nataa.fr.eu.org> has translated this document
- into French <http://www.linux-france.com/article/advocacy/Advocacy-
- HOWTO_fr.html>.
-
- Chie Nakatani <jeanne@mbox.kyoto-inet.or.jp> has translated this
- document into Japanese <http://jf.gee.kyoto-u.ac.jp/JF/JF-
- ftp/euc/Advocacy.euc>.
-
- Janusz Batko <janus@krakow.linux.org.pl> has translated this document
- into Polish <http://www.jtz.org.pl/Html/mini/Advocacy.pl.html>.
-
- Bruno H. Collovini <buick@microlink.com.br> has translated this
- document into Portuguese
- <http://www.microlink.com.br/~buick/dragons/op1/minihowtos/br-
- advocacy.html>.
-
- Mauricio Rivera Pineda <rmrivera@hotmail.com> has translated this
- document into Spanish
- <ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/translations/es/mini/Advocacy-
- Mini-Como.gz>.
-
- The author and maintainer of the Linux Advocacy mini-HOWTO is Paul L.
- Rogers <Paul.L.Rogers@li.org>.
-
- Comments and proposed additions are welcome.
-
- If you need to know more about the Linux Documentation Project or
- about Linux HOWTO's, feel free to contact the supervisor Tim Bynum
- <linux-howto@sunsite.unc.edu>. Tim Bynum will post this document to
- several national and international newsgroups on a monthly basis.
-
- A personal note: Due to various circumstances, I have not been able to
- dedicate as much time to maintaining this mini-HOWTO and interacting
- with the Linux community as I would have desired. I apologize for
- this and if you have attempted to contact me and I was slow in
- responding, please forgive me being so inconsiderate. While I still
- have many other commitments, I am anticipating that they will start
- requiring less time to meet and allow me to catch up on other parts of
- my life. I appreciate your patience and would like to extend a
- special thanks to all who have taken the time to suggest additions and
- corrections.
-
-
- 2. Copyright Information
-
-
- This mini-HOWTO is Copyright ⌐ 1996-1998 by Paul L. Rogers. All
- rights reserved.
-
- A verbatim copy may be reproduced or distributed in any medium
- physical or electronic without permission of the author. Translations
- are similarly permitted without express permission if it includes a
- notice on who translated it.
-
- Short quotes may be used without prior consent by the author.
- Derivative work and partial distributions of the Advocacy mini-HOWTO
- must be accompanied with either a verbatim copy of this file or a
- pointer to the verbatim copy.
-
- Commercial redistribution is allowed and encouraged; however, the
- author would like to be notified of any such distributions.
-
- In short, we wish to promote dissemination of this information through
- as many channels as possible. However, we do wish to retain copyright
- on the HOWTO documents, and would like to be notified of any plans to
- redistribute the HOWTOs.
-
- We further want that all information provided in the HOWTOs is
- disseminated. If you have questions, please contact Tim Bynum, the
- Linux HOWTO coordinator, at linux-howto@sunsite.unc.edu.
-
-
-
- 3. Introduction
-
-
- The Linux community has known for some time that for many
- applications, Linux is a stable, reliable, robust (although not
- perfect) product. Unfortunately, there are still many people,
- including key decision-makers, that are not aware of the existence of
- Linux and its capabilities.
-
- If Linux and the many other components that make up a Linux
- distribution are to reach their full potential, it is critical that we
- reach out to prospective ``customers'' and advocate (being careful not
- to promise too much) the use of Linux for appropriate applications.
- The reason that many company's products have done well in the
- marketplace is not so much due to the product's technical superiority
- but the company's marketing abilities.
-
- If you enjoy using Linux and would like to contribute something to the
- Linux community, please consider acting on one or more of the ideas in
- this mini-HOWTO and help others learn more about Linux.
-
-
-
- 4. Related Information
-
-
- Lars Wirzenius, former comp.os.linux.announce moderator and long-time
- Linux activist, also has some thoughts
- <http://www.iki.fi/liw/texts/advocating-linux.html> about Linux
- advocacy.
-
- Eric S. Raymond provides an analysis
- <http://www.earthspace.net/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/> of why the
- development model used by the Linux community has been so successful.
-
- The free software community has recognized that the terms "free
- software" and "freely available software" are not appropriate in all
- contexts. For more information about using the term "open-source
- software" when marketing "free software", please visit the Open Source
- <http://www.opensource.org/> site.
-
- If you need to brush up on your Linux sales techniques, take a look at
- the Linuxmanship
- <http://electriclichen.com/people/dmarti/linuxmanship.html> essay by
- Donald B. Marti, Jr.
-
- The Linux PR <http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~conradp/linux/pr/> site
- discusses the importance of press releases to the Linux community.
- Another way to gain valuable experience in this area is to organize a
- NetDay at a local school using the guidelines presented in the NetDay
- How-To Guide <http://www.netday.org/how-to/>.
-
- Linux International's <http://www.li.org/> goal is to promote the
- development and use of Linux.
-
- The Linux Documentation Project
- <http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/linux.html> is an invaluable resource for
- Linux advocates.
-
- The Linux Center Project <http://www.linux-center.org/> provides a
- thematical index of resources about Linux and free software.
-
- The Linux Business Applications <http://www.m-tech.ab.ca/linux-biz/>
- site provides a forum for organizations that depend on Linux for day-
- to-day business operations to share their experiences.
-
- Linux Enterprise Computing <http://linas.org/linux/> and Freely
- Redistributable Software in Business
- <http://www.cyber.com.au/misc/frsbiz/> cover resources and topics of
- interest to those deploying Linux in a business/commercial/enterprise
- setting.
-
- The Linux Advocacy Project's <http://www.10mb.com/linux/> goal is to
- encourage commercial application developers to provide native Linux
- versions of their software.
- The Linux CD and Support Giveaway
- <http://visar.csustan.edu:8000/giveaway.html> program is helping make
- Linux more widely available by encouraging the reuse of Linux CD-ROMs.
-
- Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc. (SSC) hosts the Linux Resources
- <http://www.linuxresources.com/> site and publishes the Linux Journal
- <http://www.ssc.com/lj/>.
-
- The linux-biz <http://www.lege.com/linux-biz.html> mailing list is a
- forum created to discuss the use of Linux in a business environment.
-
- The Linux Mission Critical Systems survey
- <http://free.rmnet.it/linux/results.html> documents successful
- existing systems which have a large load and are up 24 hours per day.
-
- A number of online publications are now devoted to covering Linux.
- These include:
-
- ╖ LinuxFocus <http://mercury.chem.pitt.edu/~angel/LinuxFocus/>
-
- ╖ Linuxove noviny <ftp://ftp.inet.cz/pub/People/Pavel.Janik/noviny>
-
- ╖ Linux Gazette <http://www.ssc.com/lg/>
-
- ╖ PLUTO Journal
- <http://www.dsi.unive.it/antares/html/pluto/journal/index.html>.
-
- Additional links to online publications can be found at the Linux
- Documentation Project <http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/links.html#misc> and
- the Linux Center Project <http://www.linux-
- center.org/fr/informations/journals/index.html>.
-
-
- 5. Advocating Linux
-
-
-
- ╖ Share your personal experiences (good and bad) with Linux.
- Everyone knows that software has bugs and limitations and if we
- only have glowing comments about Linux, we aren't being honest. I
- love to tell people about having to reboot four times (three
- scheduled) in three years.
-
- ╖ If someone has a problem that Linux may be able to solve, offer to
- provide pointers to appropriate information (Web pages, magazine
- articles, books, consultants, ...). If you haven't actually used
- the proposed solution, say so.
-
- ╖ If you are available for making presentations about Linux, register
- with the Linux Speakers Bureau <http://www.ssc.com/linux/lsb.html>.
-
- ╖ Offer to help someone start using Linux. Follow up to make sure
- that they are able to use their system effectively.
-
- ╖ Some people still believe that Linux and similar systems operate
- only in text-mode. Make sure that they are aware of the
- availability of graphical applications, such as the Gimp
- <http://www.gimp.org/>.
-
- ╖ Try to respond to one ``newbie'' posting each week. Seek out the
- tough questions, you may be the only one to respond and you may
- learn something in the process. However, if you aren't confident
- that you can respond with the correct answer, find someone that
- can.
-
-
- ╖ Seek out small software development firms and offer to make a
- presentation about Linux.
-
- ╖ If the opportunity arises, make a presentation to your employer's
- Information Technology group.
-
- ╖ Participate in community events such as NetDay
- <http://www.netday.org/>. While your first priority must be to
- contribute to the success of the event, use the opportunity to let
- others know what Linux can do for them.
-
- ╖ Always consider the viewpoints of the person to whom you are
- ``selling'' Linux. Support, reliability, interoperability and cost
- are all factors that a decision-maker must consider. Of the above,
- cost is often the least important portion of the equation.
-
- ╖ Availability of support is often mentioned as a concern when
- considering the adoption of Linux. Companies such as Caldera
- <http://www.caldera.com/>, Cygnus Solutions
- <http://www.cygnus.com/>, Red Hat <http://www.redhat.com/>, and
- S.u.S.E. <http://www.suse.com/> offer support for some or all
- components of a typical Linux distribution. In addition, the Linux
- Consultants HOWTO <http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/Consultants-
- HOWTO.html> provides a listing of companies providing commercial
- Linux related support. Of course, some of the best support is
- found in the comp.os.linux and linux newsgroup hierarchies.
-
-
- ╖ Point out that the production of open-source software
- <http://www.opensource.org/> takes place in an environment of open
- collaboration between system architects, programmers, writers,
- alpha/beta testers and end users which often results in well
- documented, robust products such as Apache
- <http://www.apache.org/>, GNU Emacs <http://www.gnu.org/>, Perl
- <http://www.perl.com/> and the Linux kernel
- <http://www.linuxhq.com/>.
-
- ╖ Stand up and be counted! Register with the Linux Counter
- <http://counter.li.org/>.
-
-
- ╖ Report successful efforts of promoting Linux to Linux International
- (li@li.org) and similar organizations.
-
- ╖ Find a new home for Linux CD-ROMs and books that you no longer
- need. Give them to someone interested in Linux, a public library
- or a school computer club. A book and its CD-ROM would be most
- appropriate for a library. However, please be sure that making the
- CD-ROM publicly available does not violate a licensing agreement or
- copyright. Also, inform the library staff that the material on the
- CD-ROM is freely distributable. Follow up to make sure it is
- available on the shelves.
-
- ╖ When purchasing books about software distributed with Linux, give
- preference to books written by the author of the software. The
- royalties that authors receive from book sales may be the only
- monetary compensation received for their efforts.
-
- ╖ Encourage Linux-based sites to submit their entry for the Powered
- by Linux <http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/powered.html> page and suggest
- that banners promoting Linux
- <http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~conradp/banners/>, Apache
- <http://www.apache.org/>, GNU <http://www.gnu.org/>, Perl
- <http://www.perl.com/> ... be displayed on their site.
-
-
- ╖ Participate! If you have benefited from open-source software
- <http://www.opensource.org/>, please consider assisting the free
- software community by:
-
- ╖ submitting detailed bug reports
-
- ╖ writing documentation
-
- ╖ creating artwork
-
- ╖ supplying management skills
-
- ╖ suggesting enhancements
-
- ╖ providing technical support
-
- ╖ contributing software
-
- ╖ donating equipment
-
- ╖ furnishing financial support.
-
- The Linux Documentation Project
- <http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/linux.html> provides a list
- <http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/devel.html> of Linux and Linux-related
- projects.
-
- ╖ Finally, keep in mind that we all have infinitely more important
- issues to deal with than the selection of a computing environment.
-
-
- 6. Canons of Conduct
-
-
-
- ╖ As a representative of the Linux community, participate in mailing
- list and newsgroup discussions in a professional manner. Refrain
- from name-calling and use of vulgar language. Consider yourself a
- member of a virtual corporation with Mr. Torvalds as your Chief
- Executive Officer. Your words will either enhance or degrade the
- image the reader has of the Linux community.
-
- ╖ Avoid hyperbole and unsubstantiated claims at all costs. It's
- unprofessional and will result in unproductive discussions.
-
- ╖ A thoughtful, well-reasoned response to a posting will not only
- provide insight for your readers, but will also increase their
- respect for your knowledge and abilities.
-
-
- ╖ Don't bite if offered flame-bait. Too many threads degenerate into
- a ``My O/S is better than your O/S'' argument. Let's accurately
- describe the capabilities of Linux and leave it at that.
-
- ╖ Always remember that if you insult or are disrespectful to someone,
- their negative experience may be shared with many others. If you
- do offend someone, please try to make amends.
-
- ╖ Focus on what Linux has to offer. There is no need to bash the
- competition. Linux is a good, solid product that stands on its
- own.
-
- ╖ Respect the use of other operating systems. While Linux is a
- wonderful platform, it does not meet everyone's needs.
-
-
- ╖ Refer to another product by its proper name. There's nothing to be
- gained by attempting to ridicule a company or its products by using
- ``creative spelling''. If we expect respect for Linux, we must
- respect other products.
-
- ╖ Give credit where credit is due. Linux is just the kernel.
- Without the efforts of people involved with the GNU project
- <http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html>, MIT, Berkeley and
- others too numerous to mention, the Linux kernel would not be very
- useful to most people.
-
- ╖ Don't insist that Linux is the only answer for a particular
- application. Just as the Linux community cherishes the freedom that
- Linux provides them, Linux only solutions would deprive others of
- their freedom.
-
- ╖ There will be cases where Linux is not the answer. Be the first to
- recognize this and offer another solution.
-
-
-
- 7. User Groups
-
-
-
- ╖ Participate in a local user group. An index
- <http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/linux.html#general> of Linux User Group
- registries is part of the Linux Documentation Project
- <http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/>. If a user group does not exist in
- your area, start one.
-
- ╖ The Linux User Group HOWTO <http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/User-
- Group-HOWTO.html> covers many of the issues involved with starting
- an user group and discusses the importance of Linux advocacy as one
- of the goals of a user group.
-
- ╖ Make speakers available to organizations interested in Linux.
-
- ╖ Issue press releases
- <http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~conradp/linux/pr/> about your
- activities to your local media.
-
- ╖ Volunteer to configure a Linux system to meet the needs of local
- community organizations. Of course, the installation process must
- include training the user community to use the system and adequate
- documentation for ongoing maintenance.
-
- ╖ Discus the Linux Advocacy mini-HOWTO at a meeting. Brainstorm and
- submit new ideas.
-
-
-
- 8. Vendor Relations
-
-
-
- ╖ When contemplating a hardware purchase, ask the vendor about Linux
- support and other user's experiences with the product in a Linux
- environment.
-
- ╖ Consider supporting vendors that sell Linux based products and
- services. Encourage them to have their product listed in the Linux
- Commercial HOWTO <http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/Commercial-
- HOWTO.html>.
-
-
- ╖ Support vendors that donate a portion of their income to
- organizations such as the Free Software Foundation
- <http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html>, the Linux Development Grant
- Fund <http://www.li.org/About/Fund/Welcome.html>, the XFree86
- Project <http://www.xfree86.org/donations.html> or Software in the
- Public Interest <http://www.debian.org/donations.html>. If
- possible, make a personal donation to these or other organizations
- that support open-source software <http://www.opensource.org/>.
- Don't forget that some employers offer a matching gift program
- program.
-
- ╖ If you need an application that is not supported on Linux, contact
- the vendor and request a native Linux version.
-
-
-
- 9. Media Relations
-
-
-
- ╖ Linux International is collecting press clippings
- <http://www.li.org/Resources/Articles/Welcome.html> that mention
- Linux, GNU and other freely redistributable software. When you see
- such an article, please send the following information to
- clippings@li.org:
-
- ╖ Name of publication
-
- ╖ Publisher's contact address
-
- ╖ Name of author
-
- ╖ Author's contact address
-
- ╖ Title of article
-
- ╖ Page number where the article starts
-
- ╖ The URL if available online
-
- ╖ A summary of the article, including your opinion
-
-
- ╖ If you believe that Linux was not given fair treatment in an
- article, review or news story, send the details, including the
- above information, to li@li.org so that an appropriate response can
- be sent to the publisher. If you contact the publisher directly,
- be professional and sure of your facts.
-
- ╖ If you involved with a Linux related project, issue press releases
- <http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~conradp/linux/pr/> to appropriate news
- services on a regular basis.
-
-
-
- 10. Acknowledgements
-
-
- Grateful acknowledgement is made to all contributors, including:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Kendall G. Clark <kclark@cmpu.net>
- Bruno H. Collovini <buick@microlink.com.br>
- Allan "Norm" Crain <allanc@idea-inc.com>
- Jon "maddog" Hall <maddog@zk3.digital.com>
- Greg Hankins <gregh@cc.gatech.edu>
- Eric Ladner <eladner@goldinc.com>
- Chie Nakatani <jeanne@mbox.kyoto-inet.or.jp>
- Daniel P. Kionka <dkionka@worldtalk.com>
- Nat Makarevitch <nat@nataa.fr.eu.org>
- Martin Michlmayr <tbm@cyrius.com>
- Rafael Caetano dos Santos <rcaetano@dijkstra.ime.usp.br>
- Idan Shoham <idan@m-tech.ab.ca>
- Adam Spiers <adam.spiers@new.ox.ac.uk>
- C. J. Suire <suire@datasync.com>
- Juhapekka Tolvanen <juhtolv@silmu.cc.jyu.fi>
- Lars Wirzenius <liw@iki.fi>
- Sean Woolcock <sbwoolco@eos.ncsu.edu>
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