Fun and Informative Way to Introduce Open Source?

jwg asks: "I work in an office environment where I provide technical services and solutions to my co-workers (as I am sure most Slashdot readers do at their respective places of employment). Once a month, we have a round-table meeting to discuss pressing issues in our office. At the beginning of these meetings, it is one person's job to provide some form of 'professional development', usually an activity or game to teach some skill, idea, or trend directly related to their job. My turn is coming up soon, and I would like to introduce my co-workers to the idea (and to some, the way of life) of Open Source. There are many examples of Open Source software and communities out there to reference (Mozilla, Wikipedia, MySQL and... oh yeah, Linux), but has anyone come up with or come across a method to introduce it in a quick, fun, and informative way to a wide variety of people each of which possess a even wider range of technical skill? Did I mention it has to be fun?"

first post

[Anonymous Coward]

you could always try the whole falling thing you know where everyone catches the falling person. then demonstrate it if everyone tried to make there catching system "propritary"

show em' why its good

[QaBOjk]

It's always fun to have your oppinions matter. Maybe collaborate a cool fictional car, that everyone can have a say what goes into it and everyone can make a difference.

Viruses

[superpulpsicle]

Bring a couple hundred viruses into the office, they'd be glad to not use proprietory windows afterwards.

Two Words:

[Mad_Rain]

Enemy Territory [4players.de].

Okay, some further explanation might be in order - it's an FPS that was released free to the public. It can be used/modified by anyone who is interested because it is - Open Source. And play a game or two (if your office can handle your l33t pwn4g3 sk1llz!) before steering the conversation in to the other good things about Open Source.

Fun and Informative Way to Introduce Open Source?

[OctoberSky]

Do anything but show them source code.

Re:Viruses

[TheOtherAgentM]

I was going to say to bring a nice packet sniffer in the week before and then present them with their private emails and instant messages. Tell them they can be a super spy too with open source.

Re:Get them thinking...

[avronius]

Good idea. In my defence, I'm operating on 0 sleep and 0 coffee...

One word... or two

[GuitarNeophyte]

One phrase. Frozen Bubble.

Fun, exciting introduction to Open Source.

But, then again, nobody would have any productivity for the rest of the day.

Luke
----
Tired of answering tons of basic computer questions for friends and family? Send them to ChristianNerds.com [christiannerds.com] instead!

Dunno...

[Quiet_Desperation]

This has a whole "Fisher-Price/Romper Room" stink about it.

Our Host: Hey, kids! I'm Open Source Bob! Today we're going to have informative fun with the wonder of open source.

Children: (dead silence)

OSB: And here to help me is my sidekick, Tickle-Me-Tux, the Linux penguin! Say hello to the children, Tux!

Tickle-Me-Tux: (takes a draw from cigarette) Hey, kids.

C: (tepid cheers and puzzled looks.)

OSB: Where shall we begin today, Tux?

TMT: (stares at OH while grinding out cig under foot) Look, kids, it's all a lie. Open source is a fun thing, but when you need to get things done in the real word and in mass numbers, just buy a fucking Winblows box and be done with it.

C: (uncomfortable giggles and a few sobs)

OSB: Um. Yeah. Well. Tux. You did get the updated script?

TMT: Script my fuzzy black and white ass. Hey kids, any chance this is a reform school? Any of you got a shiv? How about a nice sharp protractor?

OSB: Tux!

TMT: For fuck's sake, I can't go on living this lie, like some sort of craven icon of hope and desperation for the geek set. Hey, you. Fat kid. Would you fall on me? All I want now is the cold, silent, endless sleep of death.

OSB: That does it, Tux. It's back to the hot box for you. For a month. And you can forget those conjugal visits from Gadget Mouse.

(OSB grabs Tux and storms from the room)

TMT: Like I can get it up anymore, you fucking ballsucking cockgobbler. Hey, you in the back, toss me that drain cleaner. Hurry! Dammit! Augh! Someone fucking kill me!

C: (open bawling from the kids who haven't fled screaming)

Re:first post

[MyLongNickName]

Then make sure you explain that 2/3 of the "catch projects" will be abandoned as folks decide to do something that will actually pay money. So, 1/3 of the demonstrations WON'T result in concussions.

Show them the command-line

[__aahsof7392]

Kill all of your processes.
$ ps -ef|awk '{print $2}'|xargs kill

Edit a file and delete the first and last line.
$ vi
1GddGdd:wq!

Find out what's filling up your home directory.
$ du -k|sort -rn|head

Who has access to the computer?
# cat /etc/passwd|cut -d: -f1,3

Add commas to numerical strings
sed -e :a -e 's/\(.*[0-9]\)\([0-9]\{3\}\)/\1,\2/;ta'

Two Word Answer: "Briefing Puppets"

[GeneralEmergency]

Yep. Seriously.

They're fun to make and great fun in those long, boring staff meetings.

Just decorate old tube socks (Puh-leeese wash them first) or paper lunch sacks with bits of brightly colored felt and pipe cleaners. Use Dilbert comic strips for subject matter inspiration if you lack creativity in this area.

Once complete, break out your favorite Monty Python sketch recital voices and brief your audience's pants off!

P.S. If you get fired, I NEVER POSTED THIS and YOU DIDN'T READ IT!

Now, where did I leave those Meds.....

Re:I would...

[clem]

Why stop there? I like to sneak into my manager's office, wipe his harddrive and slap a ten year old version of Slackware on his system.

Wait, was this supposed to be fun for him or for me?

It's fun!

[pegasustonans]

Every time you have to enter the root password, take a shot. Every time someone says, "That's really neat," take a shot. Every time someone says something starting with, "But [MS] Office lets me," take a shot. Every time someone says, "I don't like this commie crap," beat them with a chair.

You'll be having lots of fun in no time!

Let's play .. "help your neighbor"!!

[Anonymous Coward]

To play this fun game, you need the following items:

* one Windows XP disk
* one Linux disk
* one FreeBSD disk
* one telephone
* computer (any OS) with a few CD burners

Have the group divide into pairs. Call them "departments". One pair can be "accounts receivable", the other "human resources", and "I.T.". Yay!

Now, give a short presentation on the GPL, the BSD license, and the Microsoft EULA. Have each "department" pick one of the three OS CDs to run their department.

Then burn a copy of each team's choice onto a fresh CD. Hand it to the team.

Then, use the phone to call the BSA and BUST THE ASSES of those fuckers that PIRATED WINDOWS XP!! YEAH!!!!

As they are dragged kicking and screaming by the men in the flack jackets, remind them of your presentation on the GPL and BSD licenses, and why they are stupid.

After they are gone, fire them.

WASN'T THAT FUN??? YAY!!!

How about: If you don't use open source, then...

[kuom]

you are a terrorist!

Hey, some people might just convert... :)

Re:examples you could use...

[__aadhrk6380]

(With tongue in cheek):

Present them with a freshly installed linux box running the distro of your choice, sans web browser. Then, tell them that they can open a terminal window and surf the web by simply typing "lynx" at the command prompt.

When they start asking questions about the text only browser, stare at them like they are idiots and chant "man lynx" like it will make a difference.

Re:examples you could use...

[mindaktiviti]

Compare this to a Microsoft car, where opening your hood will land them in jail.

No need for thanks, to help is what I'm here for.

You've also seemed to have omitted the following:

Furthermore while you're driving your windshield is completely covered with advertisements (i.e. spyware), and when you get into a fatal accident due to these adverts, clippy finally pops out while your brains are oozing out of your head and he asks "It seems you've been in a near-fatal car accident and are unable to move while you barely cling on to your life, click OK to dispatch an ambulance.