People don’t know

I was chatting to a chap at The Ministry the other day, saying that he could use the Ubuntu Linux testing machine for checking webmail. He had never heard of Ubuntu. Or Linux. Or Free Open Source Software. And there I am, in my little bubble, assuming the whole world knows about these things. Nope. People don’t know, which is why I keep banging on and on and on about it. And on.

A few days ago I gave a Brown Bag Seminar on OpenDisc, a collection of Free Software for Windows. Somebody thought I’d said “Free Open Sore Software”. That was rather unfortunate.

The session did help promote WinSCP, an FTP client (alas, The Ministry has just splashed out on half a dozen licenses for commercial FTP software). And I also managed to promote 7-zip, a Free alternative to WinZip. And I dished out half a dozen OpenDisc CD-ROMs and asked people to spread the word, in good proselytizing fashion.