Hello All,
I am planning to start the DTP process after some days so please provide your inputs by the next 7 days. Please do check out the last paragraph on why linux is not popular and check if anything invites trouble from manufacturers or if anything extra needs to be added. The first paragraph about contributions and licences appears to be balanced so no further editing may be required. I am actually going to distribute these brochures so please help in getting the page contents finalised within a week. Another important thing is.......what about mentioning this list in the brochure and do we have any logos to go with it. I want to show it as a LUG-BOM effort.
http://db.glug-bom.org/wiki/index.php/Linux_Brochure_Quick_Guide
Regards,
Rony. Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
On 29-Dec-06, at 8:55 PM, Rony wrote:
I am planning to start the DTP process after some days so please provide your inputs by the next 7 days.
brochure as such is now more or less ready. Now we need to jazz it up for marketing. I think rony said A4 with two folds. Which gives front cover, back cover, and 4 pages for matter. Front cover needs to have minimal matter with some slogans - things like, No-Virus, No Upgrade Charges -Stable - 40,000 software packages. The back cover needs resources like where to get CDs, some hardware specs - maybe a small box for 'Linux Friendly Hardware Vendor' where vendors can put their address stamp.
As for DTP part, the simplest way is to start scribus and choose one of the two brochure templates and modify it. Since we have two draft brochures, we can work on both at the same time. Once the two are finalised we can do the translations - i can guarantee tamil, and I suppose Marathi and Gujarathi will follow automatically. Is hindi needed? I would suggest that the local language translations follow what is done in the local language translations of popular domestic appliance manuals - less of classic language and more of english terms mixed in - as parthan said - like how people talk.
Sometime Today, Kenneth Gonsalves assembled some asciibets to say:
brochure as such is now more or less ready. Now we need to jazz it up for marketing. I think rony said A4 with two folds. Which gives front cover, back cover, and 4 pages for matter. Front cover needs to have minimal matter with some slogans - things like, No-Virus, No Upgrade Charges -Stable - 40,000 software packages. The back cover needs resources like where to get CDs, some
I'd suggest looking at the firefox posters/publicity pages, and the happybrowse website for inspiration.
Kenneth Gonsalves wrote:
As for DTP part, the simplest way is to start scribus and choose one of the two brochure templates and modify it.
Scribus is very nice. Is there any public place where I can upload the 2 page files for others to have a look? One problem is that the text is too lengthy to fit into 6 columns of text on both sides of an A4 size landscape paper with a 1 cm border around them (2 cm between the columns). And I have not even included the cover and back page. So what other paper size would suffice and with what column space?
Regards,
Rony.
___________________________________________________________ All new Yahoo! Mail "The new Interface is stunning in its simplicity and ease of use." - PC Magazine http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html
Sometime on Sunday 31 December 2006 00:22, Rony said:
Kenneth Gonsalves wrote:
As for DTP part, the simplest way is to start scribus and choose one of the two brochure templates and modify it.
Scribus is very nice. Is there any public place where I can upload the 2 page files for others to have a look? One problem is that the text is
email the tar.gz files to me. i'll put them up in your directory on db.glug-bom.org server.
Anurag
On 12/30/06, Rony ronbillypop@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
Kenneth Gonsalves wrote:
As for DTP part, the simplest way is to start scribus and choose one of the two brochure templates and modify it.
Scribus is very nice.
Also have a look at The Linux Brochure Project ( http://lbproject.sourceforge.net/). They have used LaTeX. We can learn a thing or two from them.
On 31-Dec-06, at 9:45 AM, Aseem Rane wrote:
Also have a look at The Linux Brochure Project ( http://lbproject.sourceforge.net/). They have used LaTeX. We can learn a thing or two from them.
awesome - unfortunately we have to accomodate our friends from the FSF here, which makes our brochure somewhat lengthier - apparently freedom is not under threat in Canada
On 31-Dec-06, at 12:22 AM, Rony wrote:
Scribus is very nice. Is there any public place where I can upload the 2 page files for others to have a look?
put it in the wiki itself - make a separate page for it and link from the brochure page
One problem is that the text is too lengthy to fit into 6 columns of text on both sides of an A4 size landscape paper with a 1 cm border around them (2 cm between the columns). And I have not even included the cover and back page. So what other paper size would suffice and with what column space?
A3 is no good, because a lot of printers dont handle that. The other alternative is A4, landscape, single fold - two sheets, which gives you 8 pages. But you would need to staple ... I think it is worth it - matter can be spread out more and more whitespace included. Whitespace is very important in formatting anything
hello all. I have finally gone through the entire document and would like to suggest some changes. I wanted feedback so that I don't edit it before. firstly, look at the following section.
--- Free and Open source means that the program code which is written to create the operating system or any other software, is available to anyone to download, try out and correct. This results in the creation of a very robust and secure program or software. The original code is freely available for reuse, programmers from all over the world can create more and more software packages, thus adding increased functionality to the system. Open source also helps in modification of existing softwares into small customised versions for use in various electronic devices like mobile phones, PDAs, television set-top boxes, broadband ADSL modems etc. Opening the source of software has also helped in the creation of huge computer networks called 'farms' for making full length 3D animation films in the entertainment industry. Due to its design, high security is built in by default. Hence Linux is completely immune to all viruses, trojans and spyware that plague most of the Windows(R) systems. This is one of the most important reason why one should immediately switch to Linux. --- we also need to mention the fact that the cost of developing such softwares can be distributed. for example if we are aware that there is a demand for a particular software and there are about 100 clients ready, we work out the cost. the cost comes out to be rs. 100000/- as a minimum. now what we can tell the customers is that they just need to pay rs 100/- individually. as a result the developers get their money for the work and the customers get a very high quality software at a cheep rate. I think we need to give such example which impacts a normal (non-programmer) kind of a user. this is because people may ask "I am not a programmer, how does this freedom effect me? I am not going to modify the source any ways!" secondly, I think we need to clearify the filesystem difference even more. for example in windows we have c: d: etc so the file system is leanier. there are more than one roots. so any one who has put his/ her file on c: can be accessed by any one. but in gnu/linux there is just one root and /home/user1 can't do any thing with the files of /home/user2 (home is the place where all users stay) also explain in proper details why linux can't catch virus etc. the executables r own by a user and in a particular session they might be used by a user. so the security is so tight that unless you don't have the root user permission, you can't even enter into some directories, let alone currupting some files! regards Krishnakant.
On 31-Dec-06, at 12:13 PM, krishnakant Mane wrote:
I have finally gone through the entire document and would like to suggest some changes. I wanted feedback so that I don't edit it before.
i would suggest that you put these in the long form of the brochure under appropriate headings. The short form is already becoming too long
dear kenneth, I did not get what you are trying to say. what is short form and long form? further I need some help to edit the document. rony, will you please help me do that? I an mnot very good at html any ways. I can either give plain text, LaTeX or pdf. regards. Krishnakant.
Sometime Today, krishnakant Mane assembled some asciibets to say:
further I need some help to edit the document. rony, will you please help me do that? I an mnot very good at html any ways. I can either give plain text, LaTeX or pdf.
well, mediawiki uses plain text only. you don't have to (and in fact should not) use HTML to edit a mediawiki page.
On 31-Dec-06, at 12:30 PM, krishnakant Mane wrote:
dear kenneth, I did not get what you are trying to say. what is short form and long form? further I need some help to edit the document. rony, will you please help me do that? I an mnot very good at html any ways. I can either give plain text, LaTeX or pdf. regards.
there are three alternate documents for the brochure. The first is the long form which is very elaborate and will not be printed - more an online reference as 'everything you ever wanted to know about linux in India but didnt know where to ask'. That is here:
http://db.glug-bom.org/wiki/index.php/Linux_Brochure
the second is the quick guide which is to be printed. That is here:
http://db.glug-bom.org/wiki/index.php/Linux_Brochure_Quick_Guide
and the third is an alternate quick guide, without the idealogical debate in the previous two which is here:
http://db.glug-bom.org/wiki/index.php/Linux_Brochure_Alternate
there is also a compilation of slogans which is here:
http://db.glug-bom.org/wiki/index.php/Slogans_for_the_Brochure
krishnakant Mane wrote:
hello all. I have finally gone through the entire document and would like to suggest some changes. I wanted feedback so that I don't edit it before. firstly, look at the following section.
Free and Open source means that the program code which is written to create the operating system or any other software, is available to anyone to download, try out and correct. This results in the creation of a very robust and secure program or software. The original code is freely available for reuse, programmers from all over the world can create more and more software packages, thus adding increased functionality to the system. Open source also helps in modification of existing softwares into small customised versions for use in various electronic devices like mobile phones, PDAs, television set-top boxes, broadband ADSL modems etc. Opening the source of software has also helped in the creation of huge computer networks called 'farms' for making full length 3D animation films in the entertainment industry. Due to its design, high security is built in by default. Hence Linux is completely immune to all viruses, trojans and spyware that plague most of the Windows(R) systems. This is one of the most important reason why one should immediately switch to Linux.
we also need to mention the fact that the cost of developing such softwares can be distributed. for example if we are aware that there is a demand for a particular software and there are about 100 clients ready, we work out the cost. the cost comes out to be rs. 100000/- as a minimum. now what we can tell the customers is that they just need to pay rs 100/- individually. as a result the developers get their money for the work and the customers get a very high quality software at a cheep rate. I think we need to give such example which impacts a normal (non-programmer) kind of a user. this is because people may ask "I am not a programmer, how does this freedom effect me? I am not going to modify the source any ways!" secondly, I think we need to clearify the filesystem difference even more. for example in windows we have c: d: etc so the file system is leanier. there are more than one roots. so any one who has put his/ her file on c: can be accessed by any one. but in gnu/linux there is just one root and /home/user1 can't do any thing with the files of /home/user2 (home is the place where all users stay) also explain in proper details why linux can't catch virus etc. the executables r own by a user and in a particular session they might be used by a user. so the security is so tight that unless you don't have the root user permission, you can't even enter into some directories, let alone currupting some files!
This information is good for the other detailed brochure thats on the wiki too, :) where topics are explained in-depth. However for a beginner's brochure it is too in-depth.
Regards,
Rony.
___________________________________________________________ The all-new Yahoo! Mail goes wherever you go - free your email address from your Internet provider. http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html
Kenneth Gonsalves wrote:
A3 is no good, because a lot of printers dont handle that. The other alternative is A4, landscape, single fold - two sheets, which gives you 8 pages. But you would need to staple ... I think it is worth it - matter can be spread out more and more whitespace included. Whitespace is very important in formatting anything
Is it ok if I use a full page A4 portrait brochure? That way I gain more trying space than the landscape one with muliple columns, as they need spacing too. I need space for pictures too. Is a normal A4 page good looking for presentation?
Regards,
Rony.
___________________________________________________________ All new Yahoo! Mail "The new Interface is stunning in its simplicity and ease of use." - PC Magazine http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html
Rony wrote:
That way I gain more trying space than the
Its 'typing' space. Sorry about the typo.
Regards,
Rony. Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
On 31-Dec-06, at 2:35 PM, Rony wrote:
Is it ok if I use a full page A4 portrait brochure? That way I gain more trying space than the landscape one with muliple columns, as they need spacing too. I need space for pictures too. Is a normal A4 page good looking for presentation?
no - it isnt cool
On 12/29/06, Kenneth Gonsalves lawgon@au-kbc.org wrote:
Front cover needs to have minimal matter with some slogans
How about a snap of Tux with following caption? "I was born free! No Gates and Windows can restrict my Freedom!!" :)
On 31/12/06, Aseem Rane aseemrane@gmail.com wrote:
How about a snap of Tux with following caption? "I was born free! No Gates and Windows can restrict my Freedom!!" :)
hey aseem! that's great. that way we are making people understand one thing, windows is not free and is not transperent to tell you every thing that you need. and by not taking any one's name we are not even inviting trouble. but I will suggest the issue of virus and stability be highlighted on the top. "welcome to the virus free, stable and powerful world of freedom". just ending this email with a joke I created when I was traveling to delhi and was explaining some one the dis advantages of windows crapware. "do you know what is the full form of windows?" "WINDOWS = Where I Never Do Operations With Safety" chears. Krishnakant. ps: Aseem, I am back in mumbai now and will contact you soon.
On 31-Dec-06, at 9:52 AM, Aseem Rane wrote:
Front cover needs to have minimal matter with some slogans
How about a snap of Tux with following caption? "I was born free! No Gates and Windows can restrict my Freedom!!" :)
get real. this is marketing, not politics. And Rony has practical experience, everyday experience in marketing - we need slogans that will appeal to the target audience, not stuff to make ourselves happy
On 31/12/06, Kenneth Gonsalves lawgon@au-kbc.org wrote:
get real. this is marketing, not politics. And Rony has practical experience, everyday experience in marketing - we need slogans that will appeal to the target audience, not stuff to make ourselves happy
that's why the fact that cost effective software with absolutely no virus and spyware problems and no stability issues must be on our highlights. the most important question that will time and again come is "why does a virus free secured and stable system with all the software come free? how is it possible that humans are so unselfish to give it out for free?" we need to carefully address the issue. because if we say "by free we mean freedom not price" we are essentially loosing the ground of no cost software vs m$ and high cost. and if we do build up marketing policy on total ownership cost, just remember m$ gives out free cds of windows and office to many institutes and organisations. and again the above mentioned question of "how is such a good thing free?" will come up. think carefully about striking a balance between these two paradoxical situations. and yes if we are stressing on the fact that it is actually not free as in free beer, then we must prove that the quality is 100 times better. this is where no virus issue can be stressed and also we need to clear the mith which goes "linux has no virus because it is not commonly used". I need not mention who is spreading this rubbish shit amongst less knowledgeable people. regards. Krishnakant.
On 31-Dec-06, at 12:25 PM, krishnakant Mane wrote:
will appeal to the target audience, not stuff to make ourselves happy
that's why the fact that cost effective software with absolutely no virus and spyware problems and no stability issues must be on our highlights. the most important question that will time and again come is "why does a virus free secured and stable system with all the software come free? how is it possible that humans are so unselfish to give it out for free?"
right - we have to also distinguish between marketing and propaganda. Marketing is essentially giving the public what it needs. So we highlight those aspects of our product that will appeal to the public - low toc, no virus, stable, etc etc. Propaganda is aimed at educating the public - freedom etc etc comes there.
On 12/31/06, Kenneth Gonsalves lawgon@au-kbc.org wrote:
get real. this is marketing, not politics. And Rony has practical experience, everyday experience in marketing - we need slogans that will appeal to the target audience, not stuff to make ourselves happy
I've made a section where you can put in suggestions for slogans. I've pitched in with a few myself.
I was thinking of ways to segment the audience according to their specific needs, thus targeting them better. Please let me know what you guys think of it.
Regards,
On 31-Dec-06, at 12:34 PM, Siddhesh Poyarekar wrote:
I was thinking of ways to segment the audience according to their specific needs, thus targeting them better. Please let me know what you guys think of it.
cool - just thinking of writing a small app that will create brochures on the fly from a database, depending on need
Sometime Today, Kenneth Gonsalves assembled some asciibets to say:
cool - just thinking of writing a small app that will create brochures on the fly from a database, depending on need
such an app already exists. it's called the nonsense generator (search freshmeat for nonsense). You provide it with a template and a bunch of terms/phrases. It can tie the two together at random.
Hi all,
The brochure looks nice and seems easy to understand . Good work !!
Apart from freedom ( free as in freedom ) can we also consider "cost-effectiveness" of Linux / Linux based software solutions ?
* Common people: Linux offers everything that proprietary OSes have to offer ... in fact it offers much more. (This point is well covered in the brochure)
* Universities / Colleges : They can eliminate the costs of the various licensed software required ... and spend the meagre resourses on other things.
* Industry: An example to quote , one of my seniors wanted to draw UML diagrams ... and Rational Rose software costs $ 7500 ( I am not sure about the figure ) . I suggested him to use Umbrello and that did the the job for him without spending a dollar. I am sure there are thousand of such examples.
Very certainly , the software companies can reduce their costs and maximize if they switch to free or low cost software ... the very principle of outsourcing is low cost.
* Defence and strategic industries: Free ( both as in freedom and low cost ) is essential for them to survive.
The benefits of Linux for different user groups like the few examples given above can be highlighted.
Also, may be quotations of very popular people who endorse open software ( eg President Kalam ) can be included to make the presentation more effective.
Regards, Sourabh
saurabh daptardar wrote:
Apart from freedom ( free as in freedom ) can we also consider "cost-effectiveness" of Linux / Linux based software solutions ?
We can add a line to mention that the Linux OS is available on the net for free downloads. To install it, the user can do it him/herself or hire the services of an expert. This puts both issues of freedom to install and no free service in place.
Regards,
Rony. Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
On Sunday 31 December 2006 15:01, Rony wrote:
saurabh daptardar wrote:
Apart from freedom ( free as in freedom ) can we also consider "cost-effectiveness" of Linux / Linux based software solutions ?
We can add a line to mention that the Linux OS is available on the net for free downloads. To install it, the user can do it him/herself or hire the services of an expert. This puts both issues of freedom to install and no free service in place.
Not with 400MB download limits the average users face.
On Sunday 31 December 2006 12:12, Kenneth Gonsalves wrote:
On 31-Dec-06, at 9:52 AM, Aseem Rane wrote:
Front cover needs to have minimal matter with some slogans
How about a snap of Tux with following caption? "I was born free! No Gates and Windows can restrict my Freedom!!" :)
get real. this is marketing, not politics. And Rony has practical experience, everyday experience in marketing - we need slogans that will appeal to the target audience, not stuff to make ourselves happy
We can rid you of viruses, spyware, reinstallations, blue screens, pirated software and crashes at nil or minimum cost.
Make sure you know the target audience. People you're targetting don't care about freedom. Teach them freedom once they've adapted to your software. Quality software and not free software is what will convert Windows "Users". We are not talking about CS students who want to dig up the source code.
On 31/12/06, Mrugesh Karnik mrugeshkarnik@gmail.com wrote:
We can rid you of viruses, spyware, reinstallations, blue screens, pirated software and crashes at nil or minimum cost.
very good one. or as I said before, "gnulinux is virus free, stable, robust and most importantly cost effective." or "virus free, stable and powerful system with no license charge. only pay for services not for your license rights".
Make sure you know the target audience. People you're targetting don't care about freedom. Teach them freedom once they've adapted to your software.
very true mrujesh. this is what I was refering to when I spoke about striking a balance between the cost issue and the freedom issue. remember that people will always ask you "if the software is free, why do people charge for installation etc?" and "if it is so high quality how it is free? there is some secret hidden!" believe it or not this is what we all will face. and we better be prepared to answer it (which I believe we are)
Quality software and not free software is what will convert Windows "Users".
exactly right mrujesh. if I was the director of KBC, I would give you maximum for this. see, firstly people care a dam for license because laws in India are not strict. secondly that same paradox comes to my mind time and time again. if this is what windows gives us then why is linux given to us free? this is the place where high quality comes in. may be linux installation costs you about 1000 for example. firstly in that 1000 you get every thing and secondly you hardly need any maintainance services if any. I think quality and security issues will naturally spread fud against windows which is really needed to convert users. I think 40% stress must be on cost effectiveness and the rest 60% on quality quality and only quality. in that too I feel security must come on the topline and then the wide amount of packages next on the list. some times or rather most of the times these packages are much much better in quality than the ones available on windows. again as mrujesh said quality! and most importantly, be flexible. at times we will need to talk mostly about cost effectiveness specially in cases of NGOs and schools for poor children. in such cases cost becomes major issue. so we need to well balance the document. just go back a few emails where I have given my guidelines. as a former reporter of Indian Express and Mid-day, I am giving my views which can help make the brochure totally questionless.
We are not talking about CS students who want to dig up the source code.
right. and although we do, just tell me how many out of them would actually have the time, gutts and willingness to do it? so we should put the open source and free license issue in this way. "if development cost is to be recovered for a particular software, distribute the cost over the willing customers. since the license is free for any one, all contributores or even non-contributers are leagul customers of the software."
regards. Krishnakant.
Aseem Rane wrote:
On 12/29/06, Kenneth Gonsalves lawgon@au-kbc.org wrote:
Front cover needs to have minimal matter with some slogans
How about a snap of Tux with following caption? "I was born free! No Gates and Windows can restrict my Freedom!!" :)
Its quite naughty. ;) We could avoid the No gates... part.
Regards,
Rony. Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
On Sunday 31 December 2006 15:02, Rony wrote:
Aseem Rane wrote:
On 12/29/06, Kenneth Gonsalves lawgon@au-kbc.org wrote:
Front cover needs to have minimal matter with some slogans
How about a snap of Tux with following caption? "I was born free! No Gates and Windows can restrict my Freedom!!" :)
Its quite naughty. ;) We could avoid the No gates... part.
I think the original was "In a world without walls, who needs Windows and Gates?"
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Anurag -
Aseem Rane -
Kenneth Gonsalves -
krishnakant Mane -
Mrugesh Karnik -
Philip Tellis -
Rony -
saurabh daptardar -
Siddhesh Poyarekar