Open Source Software Available at the Microsoft Ice House

[Ryan Kavanagh]

Here's the proposed press release, to be sent to Global, CityTV, CBC, and any 
other news team we can think of.
What to add/delete, GPG sign or no?


TOPIC: Open Source Software to be Available at the Microsoft Ice House

Dear _insert news team_,
	On February 2nd, members of the Ubuntu Canada Team, of Ubuntu Toronto and a 
giant 10 foot penguin will be educating the public on the benefits of Linux 
and Open Source Software versus Microsoft Windows and Proprietary Software, 
as well as handing out free Ubuntu CD's at Younge and Dundas Square. There 
will be laptops set up so that the public can experience
	"We're going to Younge and Dundas square to promote software freedom, and to 
raise awareness about Microsoft's freedom-inhibiting software licenses." says 
Dave Sullivan, a freelance IT consultant specializing in Linux and open 
source, who has helped organize the event. The participants also feel the 
need to educate people on the alternatives that exist to proprietary 
software.

An introduction to Ubuntu:

	Ubuntu is "Linux for human beings", a complete open-source operating system 
which aims to make Linux simple and a solid option for everyday desktop use. 
It includes common applications such as a web browser, e-mail client, and a 
complete office suite that is compatible with Microsoft Office and other 
document formats, such as the new ODF standard, the rapidly growing 
standardized format for the future of office documents.

	Ubuntu is available competely free of charge, in keeping with the founding 
principles of the Ubuntu distribution. Ubuntu's active, growing community is 
one of the core aspects of Ubuntu, with users participating in such ways as 
providing free support for others, exchanging ideas and suggestions, and 
developing software, all as volunteers.

Ubuntu is much more stable and less prone to security holes, viruses, and 
spyware than Windows due to a different security model, is entirely themable 
and customizable to fit your needs and preferences, and has huge quantities 
of software available to go with it, all easily accessible and free. Many of 
these applications, including the office suite, are even available for 
Windows, so you can comfortably use the same thing on both systems.

You don't have to give up everything you know and jump in headfirst. Ubuntu's 
Live CD lets you run Ubuntu entirely off a CD without touching your existing 
Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X installation at all, with no risk of losing 
data or breaking the existing installation. You can even install Ubuntu 
without erasing your other operating system, in a "dual-boot" configuration 
which allows you to simply choose which one to use when you start the
computer and share files between the two systems.

Ubuntu is also available with multiple "graphical environments", that can each 
be further customized, since everybody has different tastes for the "look and 
feel" they're comfortable with. Disks are available today with one 
called "Gnome" as well as "KDE", so you can try either of those, and if you'd 
like to take a look at others (like XFCE), screenshots of all versions 
(called Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and one even specially tailored towards
use with children and schools called Edubuntu) are available at 
http://shots.osdir.com/.

The CDs to be handed out at Younge and Dundas on Feburary 2nd are from the 
6.06 (June 2006) release and being given to you to make Ubuntu available to 
people who might otherwise not have been aware of its existence, or of free
software in general. Open-source projects such as Ubuntu develop at a rapid 
pace, so exciting improvements and new features are always becoming 
available, so watch for future releases too, with the next one coming up this 
April.

The current release supports PC (Intel x86), 64-bit PC (AMD64), PowerPC (Apple 
iBook and Powerbook, G4 and G5), and Sun UltraSPARC architectures, so if you 
need a different CD, you can download them [http://www.ubuntu.com/download] 
or get some shipped for free [https://shipit.ubuntu.com/]. For more info, 
questions, or help installing Ubuntu, check out http://www.ubuntu.com/ or 
contact us (see the "Links" page on the Ubuntu Canada website)!

Ubuntu Canada - http://www.ubuntu-ca.org/
Ubuntu Toronto - http://ubuntutoronto.org/
Linuxcaffe - 326 Harbord Street - http://www.linuxcaffe.ca/

--
Ryan Kavanagh (ryanakca)
My GPG/PGP Key: E95EDDC9
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