Meanwhile, in a little town in Austria . . .

Austria — the name itself conjures up images of edelweiss, the Von Trapps in “The Sound of Music,” a certain boys’ choir from Vienna, and now Free/Open Source Software.

On November 29, in Dornbirn, Austria, there’s a Linux Day scheduled from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the University of Applied Sciences there. Dornbirn is at the far western tip of Austria, meaning that the event will probably spill over into the surrounding areas in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

In fact, Linux Days in Europe are an almost common occurrence, predating our efforts in Felton by years, and occurring all over Europe year-round. It’s certainly speaks volumes about the reason that Europe is head and shoulders above us in North America in the acceptance of FOSS. It explains why whole towns and cities are using FOSS, ignoring OOXML formats in favor of ODF and, in some communities in Spain, developing their own free-as-in-freedom-AND-beer distros.

But what it tells us — or at least me, anyway — is that we’re doing the right thing to get GNU/Linux and FOSS out to people.

18 Celsius in Dornbirn, Austria, which is about 65 degrees Fahrenheit

Two visions, one destination

To read the blog item last week by C|Net’s Matt Asay entitled “Open Source will win quietly,” you might think that a.) he is belittling our efforts in Felton and elsewhere and b.) he and I might disagree on how to get FOSS out to the general public.

Only Matt can answer item a., and on item b., I don’t think we’re in disagreement at all. We may be on different paths, perhaps, but our destination is the same.

Matt is right when he says that, “Open source won’t win through rallies and petitions. It will win as it becomes better and better, such that normal people want to use it.” I don’t know what “rallies and petitions” he speaks of — we certainly didn’t have that as a part of the Lindependence game plan (nor do is it part of the program going forward), nor has that ever been part of Lindependence’s modus operandi — and I agree that, as FOSS continues its march to improvement, people will realize it’s a viable alternative to proprietary software.

The key here is getting Linux and FOSS in front of people, introducing it with the help of those who know its intricacies, so people aren’t going blindly into terra incognita.

In his blog, Matt provides the perfect example of why Lindependence is necessary: Thanks to Matt, his Mom is now running Firefox as a browser.

This is great — no sarcasm here; I mean that — but bear in mind that not every mother has a son who’s a nationally recognized open source blogger, ready to convert family members to FOSS (further, I would like to think that Firefox is not the be-all and end-all of Mrs. Asay’s digital experience with open source).

So the niche — void, some might say — Lindependence fills is simple: Make GNU/Linux and FOSS available to those who seek to find out what we already know about digital choices — those, perhaps, who might not have digitally inclined relatives to help them along — and make this available in small groups; person to person, one at a time, in gatherings in towns small and large.

So how exactly does Lindependence deserve the sarcastic “Yahoo,” let alone the ivory-tower condenscening tone of the blog, Matt?

65 with the fog breaking on what’s turning out to be a nice morning

Everybody’s talking at me

[First things first: Happy Birthday to Debian, which turns 15 tomorrow, I think. Debian runs on just about anything, including toasters and electric toothbrushes, and their innovation and dedication to the free/open source paradigm is unsurpassed.]

Those of you who know me — admittedly or not — know that I can talk up a storm with the best of ‘em. If it’s a topic I’m interested in (like, um, GNU/Linux and Free/Open Source Software, for starters), I can talk all day and night given the chance. I often do. Even if it’s not a topic I’m interested in, if I know about it, I’ll discuss it for as long as you can stand it.

So while I’m sure there’s a 12-step program that can help me — “Hi, my name is Larry and I’m verbose” — lately I’ve been on the receiving end of a lot of talk and conversation revolving around Lindependence. This is fine with me, obviously, but what makes it more interesting than usual is that those who have been talking to me about Lindependence lately are perfect strangers wanting to know a.) how I did it (or more appropriately, how I am doing it), b.) how can they do what I did in Felton, and c.) why I am doing it in the first place?

So while I’m banking off of a northeast wind and sailing on a summer breeze, the phone keeps ringing. Today, a company in Portland, Ore., called Touchstone Technology wanted to ask about Lindependence and how they could do one there (despite the fact we already have someone in Portland — David Kaplan — who has done some of the legwork already to get a Lindependence project going there). I get stopped at New Leaf and asked computer questions by people with whom we share a mutual acquaintance (and thank heavens for the San Lorenzo Valley Press-Banner; because of the small photo story about Lindependence, now I’m “that computer guy in the newspaper”).

This is not a complaint by any stretch of the imagination. It just amazes me that the word has gone forth from our events last month and has filtered through the community.

Makes you wonder what the first Felton LUG meeting is going to be like in two weeks.

The weather suits my clothes, since it’s 79 and sunny.