BLU meetings - what would you like to see?

[cyoung at bbnplanet.com (Chuck Young)]

I agree with both jabr and Don.  Of course, we still want technical stuff;
that's what drives us.  OTOH, part of the linux philosophy (?) is showing
folks that they don't *have* to buy the latest, greatest hardware and they
don't *have* to buy products written by Microsoft in order to have a good
time and - maybe - get some work done too.

If they are bold enough to consider runing linux, they might need help
with installation, getting applications to run, etc.  Why not try and
reach out to them?  The install-fest idea is a good one, but could be
expanded on to include more "basic training" and should we experiment with
having a "beginners night" meeting after an install-fest?

My guess is more people don't try linux because they are afraid of
revealing their ignorance or technical non-aptitude.  Microsoft has the
same problem.  Their answer is an intuitive (?) GUI, wizards and whatnot.
Well, some of the newer linux desktops deal pretty well with the same kind
of problems and are making the O/S much more accessible than ever before.

I don't think we need to lessen the technical focus of the group.  We
would all die!  We just need to try and make the platform more generally
available.  Exactly how we would do this, I don't know.

Is there any agreement that we should do more for beginners?

Chuck Young
GTE Internetworking

On Tue, 23 Mar 1999, Simpson, Don wrote:

> Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 17:46:17 -0500
> From: "Simpson, Don" <Don_Simpson at bose.com>
> To: 'John Abreau' <jabr at Blu.Org>, discuss at Blu.Org
> Subject: RE: BLU meetings - what would you like to see?
> 
> I've never been to one of the meetings, however, I don't believe that less
> technical topics are what will continue to help Linux grow the way it has. I
> would think that keeping technical topics on the agenda is important. But,
> that's just my opinion
> Don
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:	John Abreau [SMTP:jabr at blu.org]
> > Sent:	Monday, March 22, 1999 5:37 PM
> > To:	discuss at Blu.Org
> > Subject:	BLU meetings - what would you like to see?
> > 
> > In the past, I've tended to seek out technical speakers and topics for our
> > 
> > Linux meetings. Now that Linux is becoming more mainstream, we can start
> > scheduling less technical topics. I'd like to hear what people think about
> > this, and about what you'd like to see at our meetings.
> > 
> > Thanks.
> > 
> > --
> > John Abreau / Executive Director, Boston Linux & Unix 
> > Email: jabr at blu.org / URL: http://www.blu.org
> > ICQ#28611923
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