Software Freedom Day 2008

September 20th this year was Software Freedom Day, time to put in an appearance and help out at my local venue.

I hope some good came out of it. Quite a lot of CDs and leaflets given out, quite a lot of interest ("Dur, what are you selling then, how do you make your money?").

Of course, it's always good to remember, ask questions, listen -- we have 2 ears and only one mouth. I especially liked the episode when one of us on the stand tried a hard sell, pressed a Ubuntu 8.04 CD into this girl's hand and got a serious lack of interest. "Why don't you want it?". "Because I'm already running KDE4 and it's absolutely GREAT!" :)

That was a high point for me, but there were other moments when I got so depressed. It's good to attend one of these functions and realise just what we're up against. My approach was as low key as it could be, or so I thought -- whenever I found a punter running Windows and just using it for basic purposes I would ask what browser they're using. [blank stare]. "Microsoft Internet Explorer perhaps?" [slightly less blank stare with a hint of a nod]. "How about trying Firefox, it's much better". By now I'm wondering if the blank stare indicates I'm into zombie territory.

And then I got to thinking... suppose I wandered into another part of the shopping mall and found a stand for "Engine Freedom Day". Yes, we're volunteers, we're happy to do this, there's a whole bunch of teenagers learning motor mechanics, they're well supervised by professionals, and if your engine has done more than 50,000 miles we'll fit a brand new one for you, COMPLETELY FREE! It's more powerful, it's more fuel efficient, it's quieter and it comes with a set of engineering drawings so you know EXACTLY what it does. Take this leaflet, think it over and get in touch with us.

Would I follow up on that? Would I Hell. Would you? :(

So although I hope I did a little bit for evangelism, a little bit to support the worthwhile work Alan is doing, I came away thinking I was the one who'd got most out of it, it really is good to get a bird's eye view of the full spectrum of users and a bit more appreciation of what we're up against (and what a fine job MS has done).

Somewhere in the middle are the ones who are already in pain. One guy was very interested, has a machine running slowly and knows he has more than one virus, due to not keeping up his subscription to Norton. Alan will sort him out, and I'm sure another convert will result.

Did I get anything else out of the day? Well, it's nice to help, it feels good. Like assisting old ladies to cross the street (regardless
of whether they wanted to go there). You have to take the long term view, what goes around comes around. Except this time there was an immediate payoff! :)

Had I not gone therel I wouldn't have been driving that day. Saw a deer by the side of the dual carriageway, victim of some SUV no
doubt. This was about 11am.

Imagine my amazement to see it still lying there more than 4 hours later. What the Hell is the matter with the people in this area? There must be at least 1,000 cars an hour going along that road.

Earlier this week I saw a news item about compulsory cooking lessons in schools... what's that about, are parents incapable of anything
beyond the union of sperm and egg these days? Well, if 4,000+ people can turn down free venison I guess there really is a need for schools to step into the breach.

I'm just glad that free software has led me to free roadkill, filled my freezer, I have some pate cooling in the larder and this evening's meal was roast saddle (of venison)!