Fun and Informative Way to Introduce Open Source? 364
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?"
Get them thinking... (Score:5, Insightful)
Ask them:
What would use a blank sheet of paper for?
What do you know about where the paper was manufactured?
What do you know about the inventor of paper?
There are few simple alternatives to paper. Sure there are whiteboards / chalkboards / computers / sheets of mylar, etc., but each has limitations that are not inherent to paper.
Ask them how they would feel if it suddenly cost $300.00 to purchase each sheet of paper simply because the biggest vendor decided that that was what they wanted to charge. What would they do to get around this barrier to their productivity. The alternatives aren't very convenient for most people. Would they look into making their own paper?
Then tell them that there is a community that is offering other ways to manufacture paper that drastically decreased the cost - back down to the previous rate - how would they feel about that.
Better still, what if that community were all volunteers, whose goal is to make access to this type of information / service / activity available to as many people as possible?
This is rather simplistic, and doesn't address a lot of what OSS/FOSS is about, but it is a simple way to introduce the subject.
It wouldn't hurt if you could download an Open Source paper airplane design so that they can build $300.00 paper airplanes at the end of your chat.
- A
I would... (Score:2, Insightful)
Don't even bother... (Score:5, Insightful)
jesus (Score:5, Insightful)
Prime examples of wasted time at the work place. You know what would make this even worse? Having to do something like this with co-workers you hate. Even so, I think I could make it fun.
"Today, were going to play some reality television. I want everyone to vote for someone to leave the office. Now, while this isn't indicative of that person losing his or her job... it just might help.
It's secret ballot... so have at it... I should also mention that not choosing another individual indicates you are not a "Team Player" and will be autmoatically chosen for not submitting a ballot."
LiveCD's (Score:2, Insightful)
Fun With Firefox Extensions (Score:1, Insightful)
This has a dual effect. It will increase the number of Firefox installs in your office (which will probably increase your job satisfaction as you decrease the spyware outbreaks you have to deal with) and will do the job of promoting open source software.
Re:Don't even bother... (Score:3, Insightful)
You could get them into the 'free' aspect of it by showing them Open Office and Gimp. Gimp will be the most useful for Mary Jane and Brad who want to make a collage of their kids.
Most browsers are free so that won't woo them and most desk jockeys use IE for the games that sites like Popcap has that are IE only (recent ones)
Pain vs. Pleasure. (Score:3, Insightful)
Introduce it like this: (Score:3, Insightful)
Make a list of popular, successful Open Source programs. For example:
Give a brief synopsis on each of them, and then ask how many of your colleagues have heard of one or more. Then throw a curve: Continue speaking, and itemize the cost per program by comparing with other examples of such software. (i.e. the latest edition of MS Office retails for almost a grand). Now say: "These programs and their alternatives are compatible, deployed in many hundreds of companies and countries. They have a loyal user base, are easy to use, and are well known for their professional quality.
Re:Don't even bother... (Score:4, Insightful)
people definitely don't give a crap about the politics and why free/oss is better than proprietary software (try telling any graphic designer that there's a f/oss thing that's better than the adobe products).
your grandparent mentioned firefox. start there. talk about extensions. talk about spyware and popups and how it's mainly for IE. mention the ieview extension. show other cool extensions and cool features of firefox that IE lacks... because being a computer tech for an office generally means you are their spyware remover... show them how to avoid it with firefox. i think that'll get their attention and make it a bit more interesting.
examples you could use... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:first post (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:examples you could use... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Collaborative Effort Game (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Get them thinking... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:examples you could use... (Score:3, Insightful)
No, you're *required* to. It's what separates tools from hobbies. Most people want the computer to be a tool. All they want to think about is the task they want to solve, and that does not involve messing with the computer.
I want my car to get me to work and to the store with the least bit of my involvement. Most people want that of their computer as well.
Re:Open Source Computer on a Stick (Score:1, Insightful)
Or set up your computer-on-a-stick with two video cards, along with two USB keyboards and mice, and show that you can have two people using one CPU at the same time.
Set up a dual-head system, and move windows from one monitor to the other. Lots of oohs and aahs with that one. (Of course you can do this, and far easier, with Windows and OS/X, but they don't know it.)
Virtual desktops.
Show 'em the recent Slashdot article(s) indicating that they'll soon be running Linux anyway, on their cell phones.
The Gimp.
lynx. Yes, lynx. As an "emergency" browser.
Firefox with extensions, particularly Adblock, maybe ForecastFox. Find as you Type.
Hack the code for ping with one of the attendees' name so it says something like "Jack's ping returns 64 bytes blah blah blah" and re-compile it in front of them. Many of them will be familiar with ping; now they know they can hack their tools as needed, as opposed to proprietary software.
Give each attendee an ice-cold Coke in a glass bottle, but charge $1 for the use of an opener. One of the attendees will whip out his Swiss Army Knife and defeat your monopoly on openers; that's the value of Open Source and competition.
Legos are always fun, but I don't know how you'd turn them into a lesson on Open Source.
Re:Open Source Computer on a Stick (Score:2, Insightful)
I always talk about how open source at the moment is big in software (apart from wikipedia and a few others), but also should apply to other areas - especially teaching materials (I work in education). People often see the value of sharing valuable materials which teach a point effectively, but also allowing others to save teachers' time (which is very limited here in the UK) by adapting the materials themselves.
PDF is a good example of how not to publish teaching materials (unfortunately lots of people love to publish in PDF in education - oh why?) The IPPR (google for it - a left-wing Governmental policy thinktank) is waking up to this idea of open source for education and is starting to publish reports which advocate this idea. So finally, we may see the Government moving away from the old top-down (aka Cathedral) approach, which hasn't been at all effective.
Perhaps think about an area in the company where people could share information more freely?
Re:Get them thinking... (Score:3, Insightful)
I can't speak for all free software developers, but the main reason I donate time to free software is that I want to contribute to the sustenance of an environment that gives me a lot more back than I put in. I have over 800 packages installed on my system, and have only contributed significantly to one.
If you could let someone stay in your house for a month in exchange for 800 months of rent, would you house him?
If you could cook a meal and get 800 free meals in return, would you cook it?
If you could knit a sock and get 800 articles of clothing in return, would you knit it?
The fact that software is essentially free to duplicate makes contributing one package and receiving 800 possible, what isn't possible with material goods. It even allows plenty of room for freeloaders, as long as there are enough people like me working to sustain the environment.
In summary, I don't expect software to be free, but I know a good investment when I see one.