[NTLUG:Discuss] Fair Rename

[agoats at compuserve.com]

I think instead of focusing so much on software, let's consider the user 
experience. There are gamers, e-mailers, YouTubers, home office, 
business office, school student, school teacher, school district.... Why 
not focus on usability software and what we use, regardless of whether 
it is free open source, free closed source, cheap priced software or 
expensive software?

Major topics could be:
Gamers:  using wine to play Microsoft games,  Linux games you may not 
know about.

YouTubers: what do YOU use for YouTube? Can you capture a video and 
convert it?

Home Office: GnuCash, OpenOffice, OpenProject, ....?

Business Office: MRP Floor control software (if it does what is needed, 
companies will pay for it, hang open source). Law Office, Dental Office, 
Dr's Office, factory, .... lots of opportunities here. Anybody know 
anything that fits, regardless of cost/open source?

Schools:  Ripe for the picking with the economic crunch! SEUL (Secondary 
Education Userspace Linux) anyone?

Video editing, movie conversion, ripping CD's to mp3, burning DVD/CD.... 
just what can I do with my digital camera and it's videos? How about my 
Sansa player or iPod, using RockBox anyone? How about movie/video 
conversion to mediaplayer formats (I have some for the Sansa E260 and 
the C200). Anyone else?

IF we focus on things for the USER and less on whether the software 
meets an individuals cost/openness preferences we should be able to have 
a good show and include things that others may need. Business needs some 
custom software and are willing to pay for it, but preferably not bleed 
to death to do so. Like I said, I do buy software and I did buy QCad and 
Cepstral speech software as it fits my needs; I use nVidia's drivers 
with their closed source accelerators because of performance boost. Most 
of my software is Open Source, but I'm not a zealot over it as Open 
Source does NOT completely fulfill my needs.   I am a USER, hear me ROAR! ;D

On this tact, we might be able to  have IBM, Oracle and others join in 
with booths  and sponsorship as they have software on Linux though they 
charge for the software. This also opens things up for RedHat, SuSe and 
others with enterprise software and support, also possible sponsors. 
What's the latest with Id Software or Loki? Sponsors, demos, freebies, 
disks, software, where would these come from ?

Just some more things to consider with having a Faire/Expo.

Hmmmmm..... User Space Software Expo!   This is so open it includes 
EVERYONE!   YAAAAYYYY!

Alvin



Mike Hart wrote:
> I'm concerned that we keep debating "Free vs expensive software" or "open vs closed".  To me this line of thinking attracts the wrong type of attention: the type that thinks bittorrent used to trade copyrighted content is the ultimate goal of the FSF.  To work around this stereotype, I suggest again that a different direction is a good idea. Take the licensing scheme away and focus on the usability, costs, and returns of something. But...  you need that something: a subject. Linux doesn't have a subject when it comes to cost (without using FREE and all it's related negative associations), and usability is so widespread that it includes everything with a power cord.  
>
> I fear the draw to show up falls apart when you take away GNU and Linux unless you provide a replacement cohesive subject. Narrow the focus slightly so it fits into the venue and provides a focus for the fair. That is, we're going to have a desktop apps conference, or media apps conference, or networking apps, etc.   Once, we have a focus like that, the operating system and licensing automagically take a back seat.  Linux (or something like it) doesn't need to be in the title. You can set any proprietary and linux solution side by side: linux based solutions are going to look pretty good when you consider everything, but that's the result and not the title of the show.  
>
> All that said about narrowing the focus, the alternative is also possible. The general 'techno show' version that works grows exponentially (probably beyond the resources we are commited to providing.) If we do want to stick with a completely open forum (a COMDEX of sorts), it needs to be able to grow to work at all. Consider that vendor solicitations should include hardware, software, education, and solution providers, as well as area clubs including ourselves. Attendance solicitations should include as many area businesses as we can work in. 
>
>
> Example 'no subject' Title:
>
>        NTUGC (*) presents the 
> Texas Technology Tomorrow Summit
>               Metro-Tech 2011:
> -------------------------------------------------------
>   Emerging Metroplex Technologies
>
> ________________________________
> (*) NTUGC - North Texas User Group Community
>
> ________________________________
> (**) Metro-Tech is currently in use by several companies, so none of them can claim it exclusively. However,  wrapping it with so many other words is necessary to avoid cease-desist trouble.
>
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