FLOSS Distribution

Since nobody wanted to listen to my plan for this, I'll outline it here where you can't interrupt.

The big goal for the ACM this semester is to spread the use of FLOSS, which is Free/Libre Open Source Software.

Why should we do this? There's a whole ton of reasons:

• Stop vendor lock-in
• Keep users from agreeing to abusive EULAs
• Save everyone money
• Tell people about high quality software options
• Get more people involved in the FLOSS ecosystem
• Show people that they don't have to deal with the horrible mess that is Windows
• Encourage more would-be hackers to contribute back to society instead of proprietary software

And thats just the big ones.

The way we'll do it, is this:

• Advertising
• Fedora Ambassador Presentation(s) on FLOSS
• Linux Install Fest
• Demos
• Word of Mouth

The big thing here is running some demos of FLOSS/Ubuntu/Fedora. The average Joe/Jane college computer user doesn't use their laptop to play games, run business apps, or really do anything outside of webbrowsing and writing homework papers. They are the perfect people for this. ACM volunteers will be setting up at a table in the student union, outside the Union Market. There, we'll advertise "the newest version of your desktop". We're not saying its Windows, and we're not saying its Linux. Those kinds of things scare people away by thinking its a huge pricetag or beyond their experience. We tell them the big things: Its free, you can share it, its new, it is stable, does everything you'll ever need it to do, it has flashy eyecandy, and configurable beyond your wildest dreams, upgrading lets you save everything 100% guaranteed, and best of all, its free.

After a few weeks of doing this (not solid days in a row, mind you), we'll be offering free installations in a room in the union. There we let people decide what kind of system they want:

• Full 100% Fedora KDE
• Full 100% Ubuntu Gnome
• Dual Booting Windows/Fedora
• Dual Booting Windows/Ubuntu

We'll ask them questions to help them decide, such as "Do you play video games?", or "Which looks easier to use?". Once they settle on a setup, we do it for them right then and there. A full install involves backing up the user's data, wiping the drive, installing linux, then restoring. Both dual-booting and wiping involve setting up the machines, including making sure the hardware works right, installing the nasty broadcom drivers, etc.

Afterwards, we give them the resources to get help for their new systems, such as mailing lists, IRC, forums, websites, wikis, etc.