Re-imagining

Fri Apr 12 10:03:48 UTC 2013

What does "IRC"  and "FLOSS"  mean in the posts below?

David

> Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2013 00:17:47 -0400
> From: txwikinger at ubuntu.com
> To: ubuntu-ca at lists.ubuntu.com
> Subject: Re: Re-imagining
> 
> On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 06:54:15AM -0700, Randall Ross wrote:
> > Mark Paskal wrote:
> > > Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:19:24 -0600
> > > From: Mark Paskal <markpaskal at gmail.com>
> > > To: The Canadian Ubuntu Users Community <ubuntu-ca at lists.ubuntu.com>
> > > Subject: Re: Re-imagining
> > >
> > >
> > > I really feel that the national loco is important as the only obvious place
> > > (that I know of, please someone correct me if I'm wrong.) for Canadian
> > > users to get support. 
> > That's a misconception. Mailing lists are a terrible support channel and
> > we'd be better served if there were a "no support questions here" rule.
> > IRC is marginally better, but not by much, and is unusable by novice
> > Ubuntu people.
> > 
> > http://askubuntu.com is the official place to get support for the Ubuntu
> > project. The legacy (but still useful) place to get support is
> > https://answers.launchpad.net
> > 
> AskUbuntu is not really the place for support. The moderators there are very
> fast in closing questions and new users are often disappointed and turn away.
> 
> AskUbuntu is a collection point of good re-usable questions and answers, which
> can be helpful in some circumstances, but that does not amount to good support.
> 
> Support in the Ubuntu community comes on numerous places. There are mailing lists
> specially dedicated for support, similar there are IRC channels solely for that 
> purpose. There are fora for it. All those are  available in lots of languages
> (which Ask Ubuntu is not -- it is solely English, -- there is a shapado section
> for Ubuntu that is multi-lingual, but it is not very frequented).
> 
> Support can be given in lots of different forms. Every place has its purpose and
> its advantages and disadvantages. And sometimes it is difficult. Not every LoCo
> has the critical mass to do all of it. However, fortunately for us, if the questions
> are merely about Canada specific issues, it is not overwhelming. For general 
> questions there are enough other places that are contributed to world-wide in English.
> 
> I can daily questions through the contact form from the Kubuntu Germany LoCo, 
> fortunately, there are places I can send people to get answers. The important point
> is often not to be able to answer everything, but to send people to good places. 
> > >
> > > I think advocating should be left to the city groups if they exist and are
> > > interested. Here in Calgary the only interaction I have ever had with
> > > another Ubuntu user was making him wonder 'Why is he staring?' as I
> > > eyeballed the sticker on his laptop bag in passing. (OMG I'M NOT THE ONLY
> > > ONE!!) This area has two million people and I've seen the one guy.
> > Given Ubuntu market share estimates, conservatively there are at least
> > 20,000 people who enjoy Ubuntu in Calgary. That's enough for a *very*
> > large group.
> 
> I have no clue were you make yup these numbers from. 1) 2% Linux users  is
> just an estimate... nobody really knows. And the percentage is very likely
> higher in Servers than in Desktops. 2) There are places that have far 
> higher numbers, just look at South America, so there are also places with 
> a far lower number. Making up such number and calling them conservatively
> is not very credible.
> > >
> > >     Even if ubuntu-stickered-laptop-guy and I were to start a local group I
> > > have to question the usefulness of spending time on advocacy given that
> > > I'll be spending just as much time helping 90% of users I do manage to
> > 
> > I will close with a challenge for all reading this: If you are the
> > "Sticker guy" or the "Sticker gal" in your city/town, and you want to
> > see people freed from monopolists (with bank accounts the size of a
> > national treasury) in your lifetime, start an Ubuntu group where you
> > live. It's our best chance. The code has been written. We need to get it
> > to our friends and neighbours... now.
> > 
> Well, recently,  Ubuntu is acting more and more monopolistic, too. Maybe
> the *buntu community needs to grow a spine before advocacy in this direction
> can be made again with a good conscience. 
> 
> Freeing people is not achieved by selling them used cars that do not fulfill
> their needs. Freeing people is achieved by teaching them how to get the
> best FLOSS product for their particular purpose. Sure yiou can have
> them switch from Microsoft to some pseudo-freedom, but they will not
> stay when they figure out what the real motivation was. And then, all
> of the FLOSS community has been given a bad name.
> 
> Life is far more complicated than just some sound bites from a marketing
> manual. Delivering what was perceived to be promised is the only way
> to earn trust.
> 
> Ralph
> 
> 
> 
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> 
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