[Cialug] [Fwd: ubuntu-be.org at computer fairs]

[Matthew Nuzum]

This was somewhat interesting... snipping most of the article, but
thought I'd toss out these few tidbits... Of greatest interest is an
apparent run-in with the prototypical grandparent running Linux.
Apparently they do exist.

-- 
Matthew Nuzum
newz2000 on freenode

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: ubuntu-be.org at computer fairs
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2006 16:03:17 +0200
From: Mark Van den Borre <mvdborre at gmail.com>
To: Ubuntu local community team (LoCo) contacts

Hi all,

The past month, ubuntu-be.org volunteers have organised four Ubuntu
booths at Dipro computer fairs in Charleroi, Antwerp, Leuven and
Liège. Imagine the archetypical computer fair: some technically
skilled versus others who think they are (a bit like Hackles versus
Preston[1]), end users, cheap CD-r's, new and second hand hardware,
fancy PC gadgets.

When interacting with people instead of computer screens, interesting
things happen:

* Leuven fair, 14.00. We've almost run out of pressed CD's. If we want
to keep handing them out, we'll have to burn copies ourselves. But all
the CD-r salesmen have just been raided by Auvibel levy officials.
Surrealistic. We are in a fair hall with tens of thousands of empty
CD's. We want to make copies of free software, but we can't, because
every single booth that sells CD-r's has just been torn down by the
levy police. Luckily, around 15.30, a stack of 100 CD-r's mysteriously
falls from the sky into our booth.

* Leuven fair. A 76 years old man and his wife come by.
me: "Ever heard of Ubuntu, sir, madam?". You never know...
grandpa: "Sure. We use it."
me: "Oh, nice. And, any experience you would want to share?"
grandpa: "Well, I like it much better than Windows. I was a bit afraid
of installing new software, but it all went really smoothly. I feel
much more at ease with Ubuntu. And I like Gimp for editing photos."
This old couple made a few hearts melt...

* Antwerp, Leuven, Liège: the ever reoccurring surprised African
theme. What happens when an African visitor suddenly sees a word in
his native language, printed in letters half a meter high, at a
computer fair, a word that gives him a warm feeling? Enthusiasm.
Determination. "I want that on my computer. Nothing else!"

[1] http://hackles.org/cgi-bin/archives.pl?request=342

Mark
ubuntu-be.org