[hackerspaces] Hackerspaces survey on Free/Libre Open Source Software

[Shirley Hicks]

On Apr 6, 2014, at 10:07 AM, Mike Dupont <jamesmikedupont at googlemail.com> wrote:

> 
> 
> 
> On Sun, Apr 6, 2014 at 9:48 AM, Shirley Hicks <shirley at velochicdesign.com> wrote:
> 
> On Apr 6, 2014, at 9:26 AM, Mike Dupont <jamesmikedupont at googlemail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Hello Fellow Hackers,
>> I recently moved to Kansas and found hackerspaces that are not really what I would have expected from my experience with hackerspaces in Europe (cbase, matrax and others) .  I find much less FLOSS and very little knowledge or awareness of any of the issues that I feel are important. 
>> 
> Could you list this issues? 
> 
> 
> Sure,  and not going to name names here and this is not directed at anyone. 
> 
> general lack of knowledge of copyright issues.

That is an issue of education. I would suggest offering to do a presentation to the group on the subject, with lots of links for interested members to follow up on later.

> acceptance of using illegal copies of proprietary software instead of learning to use F/LOSS alternatives.

Within your presentation, show the trade-offs. You need to find examples where being busted for illegal software use caused significant problems, or determine and present the financial risk to the group.

> spending of hackerspace funds on software licenses. 

Again, do a financial case study as to how it affects future group sustainability and cash flow (license renewal/upgrade/maintenance costs) and doing a practical demonstration of the systems that you are suggesting. Part of the ethos of hackerspaces is that you need to convince others of the benefits of what you are proposing - will it benefit them to learn about these other systems instead of being execises in frustration? I'm finding that doing and presenting the financial analysis, along with a practical demonstration or implementation is an excellent way to make the pitch. 

You also tend to have the system best known to the person acting as sysadmin or chief technology officer being the one installed. Be prepared to volunteer for that role (and do it well) if you wish to lead an open source effort. 

When I first came to Birmingham, there was a distinct split within the software and business community as to who were Windows people and who were more platform agnostic/Linux or Mac people. (I will make no observations as to policial affiliation, although as a foreign national, I'm tempted to do so. ;) Our group is using open source software exclusively for our systems, but for me personally, I've had a Linux learning curve (this is good!). Most of our group members to date have been Linux or Mac people, but we have two new members coming in who are very Windows-oriented. 

> for me the big one that hurt the most : was removing of linux from the public terminals and replacing with windows.
> holding courses teaching to use proprietary software  tools instead of using F/LOSS alternatives.
> 
> I am not trying to judge people here but would like to at least try and present alternatives and motivate people to explore what can be done using free software.

My observation is that many smaller cities in the US interior tend to be a few years behind the curve in terms of practices and knowledge base. It all depends on the size and sustainability of your tech community.

Shirley Hicks
Red Mountain Makers
Birmingham, AL
> 
> In this context, does FLOSS stand for "Free/Libre/Open Source Software"? My first search returned dental products.
> yes it does 
>  
> Shirley Hicks
> Red Mountain Makers
> Birmingham, AL
> 
>> something that is supported by many people. Ideally we can come up with a set of guiding principles that hackerspaces can freely adopt and identify with that will tell people that they support software freedom. If enough hackerspaces do this it would be attractive to new and budding hackerspaces as voluntary self identification.
>> 
>> So I made a short survey to get peoples opinion on this :
>> https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9WYC6SY
>> 
>> Thanks to  wannabe1987, gmc, Wil5on, Otter on irc for debugging this and providing constructive feedback
>> 
>> Also I wanted to say that I am starting a free software association for Kansas http://flosokaks.thefr33.com/ and looking for support.
>> 
>> thanks,
>> mike
>> 
>> 
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> 
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> -- 
> James Michael DuPont
> Member of Free Libre Open Source Software Kosova http://www.flossk.org
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