[ubuntu-us-in] Consulting franchise idea

[Brian Fahrlander]

Carol Rutz wrote:
> Ya know...this sounds like a neat plan.  Just yesterday at my friends'
> house, I brought the Live CD of 7.04 to show off what I've been using.  The
> husband was disgusted with Windows with the crashing and was thinking of
> getting a Mac.  He had a Gateway laptop.  So, I loaded up the CD and and
> demonstrated how Ubuntu works and the Open Office suite.  He was pleased at
> the user-friendliness and the aesthetics. I gave him the CD and he asked how
> much.
> 
> I said: "Free."
> 
> "Free?"
> 
> "That's what it said in the back."
> 
> "C'mon...you know that there is no such thing as a free lunch."
> 
> "I know...Ubuntu is a cooperative project--" and then I told him a bit of
> FLOSS and Linux history.  The best payment is to try it and if he likes it,
> he can promote it.  He understood better.
> 
> And now, he's taking Ubuntu for his test spin.  Imagine people like him
> throughout Indiana, wanting a better system and a better way of "paying"
> (via promotion, donation, and contribution).

     Well, my viewpoint is that, if we get Ubuntu into their hands, even 
if they're not paying me for support, it's still a win. Early in this 
effort I won't be able to provide 24x7 support, so I intend to point 
them towards Canonical, but I'd rather just keep'em happy, keep them 
comfortable, and not have them downloading kernel patches and the like. :>

     I got a message from a German in Bonn who's doing this now. He gave 
me a lot of feedback I expected, like that profitability is long in 
coming, but I still think this can work.  Besides, no business makes any 
profit for three years unless you're Google.  :)

     But I'd like to set up an email list for cellular consulting; we 
all take our own money from our own customers, but we can meet and 
discuss strategies and problem resolution in a communal place, hopefully 
on Canonical. (I just don't know who to ask about such things, yet)

     In a place like Evansville, with 300,000 people, there is *surely* 
100,000 computers.  And since Linux is so much easier to maintain by 
industrially-recognized standards, I suspect there's room in Evansville 
for 100 such cells. There's no need to fight over customers; there's 
plenty to go around!

-- 
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  Brian Fahrländer                 Christian, Conservative, and Technomad
  Evansville, IN                              http://Fahrlander.net/brian
  ICQ: 5119262                         AOL/Yahoo/GoogleTalk: WheelDweller
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