We seem to be in agreement about free Vs non-free concepts in software. The concept I am invoking centers on what each of us is doing. To promote Free and Open Source ideals by spreading usage of such. There is a danger of a discussion such as this rapidly de-evolving into ugly chest beatings etc. I propose something vastly more productive.

A simple sharing of our notes. Notes on whatever success or failure we have had. Reports on freeing persons or companies from closed non-free software.

MY initial "ready to share" notes start with:

A public kiosk at the campground getting about 3-5 unique NEW users a week for most of this summer. With well over half taking one or more of the Linux cd's on a nearby shelf. The kiosk details of note: 400mhz p3 -384 mb ram - 32x cd-rom drive,15" lcd,usb keyboard with usb ports-one free for staff thumbdrives and the other for the optical mouse. Current most usable distro is Puppy 4.0 which has been essentially flawless with the exception of the typematic rate bug.

Several total exorcisms of MS from friend's lives- their testimonials are forthcoming. More than a few project managers in my mundane working world gifted with Knoppix and a hard copy print of:

http://www.shockfamily.net/cedric/knoppix/

have called me back to say it saved their data and sanity. The related bridges to escaping Closed unfree software is using Abiword and OpenOffice as opposed to MS office. Sumatra PDF as opposed to Adobe. ALL of those used as part of "crash and/or virus recovery" operations. Showing someone that their virus infested winbox can be resurrected. By the Shockfamily document's methods. And then the revelation of Free Software continuing to show that unfree software is not mandatory.

It's Tuesday afternoon. 3 guests at the campground have been exposed to a working Linux kiosk this week so far. 3 of 3 took copies of Puppy.

Well- Let's hear what you have done lately?