<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 TRANSITIONAL//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; CHARSET=UTF-8"> <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="GtkHTML/3.28.3"> </HEAD> <BODY> On Fri, 2011-06-24 at 12:53 +0100, Alan Bell wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE> <PRE> I would certainly want to support individuals who want to do that type of thing as a small local business venture. Get yourself on the marketplace and go for it: <A HREF="http://webapps.ubuntu.com/marketplace/europe/">http://webapps.ubuntu.com/marketplace/europe/</A> I think we should get the UK bit of the marketplace app exposed on the ubuntu-uk.org website. Alan. On 24/06/11 12:12, scoundrel50a wrote: > What about paid immediate support for those like myself that have no > other forms of support available. Windows has a immediate paid support > for problems, where they can connect to your computer and fix what > ever your problem is. I am not sure what Windows charges now, as I > havent had to look, but when I last looked a couple of years ago it > was £45, whether they could fix it or not. > > John > </PRE> </BLOCKQUOTE> Well, I bottom post cos some people seem to feel strongly about it - but, actually, I prefer top-posting because otherwise I have to keep scrolling down in the preview window just to see if I'm interested to open it and read it all <IMG SRC="cid:1308919209.27496.73.camel@fbterm" ALIGN="middle" ALT=";)" BORDER="0"> Back to the main topic: We do a certain amount of paid support for VCOs but not usually for individuals. We work with the Councils for Voluntary Service in East London to provide training for non-profits in re-using their existing computers with Ubuntu and FOSS - this is taking off really well and we've achieved a lot of 'buzz' for Ubuntu and FOSS generally last year. We monitor what we do and the outcomes for various funders and have stats. We also have photos of various of the advocacy events and training sessions we do. We now run an Ubuntu LTSP server for a health-related social enterprise and are piloting a couple of Ubuntu PCs in one of the Councils for Voluntary Service in East London (which, by the way, once a few bugs in 10.04 were worked around gives no trouble at all). We're also working with a youth organisation who're considering moving across to Ubuntu and they'll probably contract us to look after it if they do. We were working with 3 more organisations last year but they all went bust in the cuts. We haven't found a market for paid Ubuntu services on any kind of scale among local communities and non-profits and this can only get worse as no-one has any money now - what they really need right now is to be able to look after their own kit. It's probably different in communities where most people are working in well-paid jobs but around here, no! So we've come at it another way . . . We run monthly "FOSS Friday" sessions where volunteers help people install and manage Ubuntu as well as the software which runs on Ubuntu (by the way, we can never get enough skilled volunteers for this - the next one is 1 July, 12 noon till 7pm near Tower Bridge - register to volunteer here: <A HREF="http://fossbox.org.uk/blog/?p=661">http://fossbox.org.uk/blog/?p=661</A> ). As I said in a recent post, we're also looking at how skilled volunteers who aren't in London could participate over TeamViewer or something - but I'd need to work out how to manage this properly among the controlled chaos of running the people who're in the room already! Last year, we did an Ubuntu install-fest for SFD at our workshop, this year we're working on a women's advocacy network with OK Computers in Manchester and of running Ubuntu-centred, women-friendly SFD events in Manc and London. We'll be launching the network in the next few weeks and we'll send out more details. This year we're also developing a 'Self-Sufficient IT' programme for non-profits which is a basic Ubuntu desktop maintenance course for beginners (which includes stuff about the kind of software non-profits need to use on Ubuntu) - participants can continue to come to the FOSS Fridays as long as they need help when they get stuck. I'll also build in how individuals can get help from Ubuntu-UK into this course. We're selling this package to the Councils for Voluntary Service - but we've lost a lot in the funding cuts so we'll probably be extending paid services and training to individuals who have well-paid jobs! If this takes off, we'll look at doing a course about basic Ubuntu servers for non-profits in the following year. We thought about doing the Ubuntu LPI course, but it's not really what non-profits want so we'll probably tailor something ourselves. I'm also looking into getting a small bit of funding to write up the research and advocacy we did with non-profits over the past 3 years into a guide for other advocates working with non-profits and other communities. I don't have much time left over to contribute as much as I'd like to Ubuntu-UK but I'm happy if anything we're doing can help with the LoCo's plans for the future? I do think that people need face-to-face help and the LUG format doesn't work for most non-techies - and especially for women. Anxiety about who they'll turn to if it goes wrong is a big barrier for most people when thinking about adopting Ubuntu. We've been working on developing models that provide this for 'human beings' <IMG SRC="cid:1308919209.27496.73.camel@fbterm" ALIGN="middle" ALT=";)" BORDER="0"> I do think that creating 'buzz' at local levels is the best way to get Ubuntu out there on a shoestring. Paula </BODY> </HTML>