[wplug-board] Letter to P-G re BSA

[Vance Kochenderfer]

Thanks for the feedback, Patrick and Dave.

Patrick Wagstrom wrote:
> Vance Kochenderfer wrote:
> > 
> > To get a taste, download and try the Firefox web browser or
> > OpenOffice.org office suite.  Go ahead and make as many copies as
> > you like and distribute them within your company or to friends.
> > The creators of these programs won't mind and won't send BSA
> > lawyers to your door -- that's what software freedom is all about.
> 
> This should be the last paragraph of the letter.

Yeah, I see how that can make it flow better.

> I'm a little leery about 
> ending with "software freedom" because it hasn't been previously 
> referenced, but maybe that's the academic in me coming out again.

There I'm trying to push the fact that Free is about freedom, not
merely price, and provide a contrast with the non-freedom of
proprietary software.  If the linkage with the previous mention of
Free and Open Source Software isn't obvious enough, can you think of
an improved wording without adding too much?

> > Free and Open Source Software powers Google and over three
> > quarters of the world's top 500 supercomputers.  There's a good
> > chance it powers the wireless router sitting in your den.  It can
> > power your business, too.  To learn more, come out to one of the
> > Western Pennsylvania Linux Users Group's (www.wplug.org) monthly
> > events.  We'd love to talk to local businesses about how they can
> > put Free and Open Source Software to work for them.
> 
> The wireless routers in the den is getting a bet too esoteric and tends 
> to muddy the issue a little bit -- embedded space gets confusing for 
> most people, they may perceive it as being too weak then.

I agree that this paragraph needs work.  Dave's right about the
supercomputer issue being too removed from most people - I think
using the Netcraft numbers about FOSS web servers might be better.

What I was trying to accomplish with this paragraph (other than
the reference to WPLUG) was:
  - Point out that successful businesses use and depend on FOSS
  - Demonstrate that you (the reader) probably use and depend on
    FOSS today, without even knowing it, so there's nothing to be
    afraid of.

I'll try reworking it; if you can come up with a better example
than the router for the second point, it would be much appreciated.

Vance Kochenderfer        |  "Get me out of these ropes and into a
vkochend at nyx.net          |   good belt of Scotch"    -Nick Danger