[ubuntu-us-ma] [ubuntu-marketing] The Free Software, Open Source promise: what FOSS means for non-coders

[Kyle Barnhart]

OpenOffice, while not under DRM, is more efficient compared to Microsoft 
Office. MSOffice may have a colorful GUI, but OpenOffice serves what 
people want: compatibility.

OpenOffice can support MSOffice, WordPerfect, OpenDocuments, etc. 
formats, while MSOffice, only until recently, only used MSOffice only 
formats. They now support OpenDocuments with MSOffice 2007 SP2 and 
Office 2010 Beta, but they still don't support some of the other formats 
that people use.

Another example is Windows Media Player, that is related to DRM. They 
check server to see if the music is flagged as copyrighted material, 
preventing the ability to sync/copy over to a CD/DVD/mp3 player. FOSS 
alternatives, such as Mozilla Songbird, does not do such a thing, and 
would make users happier. Music is one of the most downloaded things in 
the digital industry.

One thing to tell those who have not heard of FOSS is the level of 
freedom presented to you. Freedom of browsing, music, office software, 
etc. and demonstrate to them how much more efficient in terms of freedom 
and cost compared to proprietary software. People don't want to spend 
money on something that won't do what they want them to do. They would 
be happy with free (freedom and optionally cost) that can do so much 
more than what they paid hundreds of dollars for. I'm doing such a thing 
to my high school Board of Education, since they use Office 2003, MSIE, 
etc. and students bring in work with foreign formats, and using 
OpenOffice would help cure the issue. MSIE to Firefox would potentially 
increase their security, since MSIE is directly tied into Microsoft 
Windows. I'm even suggesting that they have a few separate computers 
with Linux Edubuntu for the mentally challenged to have educational 
games to play with. Completely free of charge, so their budget is hardly 
affected.

There's so many things you can do with FOSS over proprietary software.

"If it weren't for law and physics, I would be unstoppable."

"Fighting is the only thing...the only thing I was good at. But, at least I always fought for what I believed in." ~Grey Fox, MGS  R.I.P

"Friends don't let friends use Microsoft Internet Explorer." Get Firefox now! http://firefox.com

"When I'm running my own military state, first thing I'll do is outlaw paperwork."


On 3/9/2010 9:19 PM, Martin Owens wrote:
> You need to define if you mean examples, description or one liners.
>
> I'm confused.
>
> On Tue, 2010-03-09 at 19:18 -0500, Danny Piccirillo wrote:
>    
>> Spreading the ideals of FOSS is a bit difficult when we have to
>> explain how our tools respect freedom and why peer-review and our
>> methods create better software. I propose that we put together a solid
>> list of Free Software (Open Source) promises that people can expect
>> from FOSS tools. That is, a list of things that would never happen
>> with FOSS with examples of where it has happened with major
>> proprietary software. Example: DRM
>>
>>
>> Thoughts?
>>
>> -- 
>> .danny
>>
>> ☮♥Ⓐ - http://www.google.com/profiles/danny.piccirillo
>> Every (in)decision matters.
>>
>>      
>
>
>