[CS-FSLUG] My Latest Hair-Brained Idea

[Don Parris]

On 5/11/05, Ed Hurst <ehurst at asisaid.com> wrote:
> While I can appreciate PitP and similar efforts, I feel called to
> something slightly different.
> 
> I'm going to start small. That's because I have almost nothing to work
> with, and have to fund it out of my own pocket. I'm going to advertise my
> computer ministry, based out of the church I serve, to offer FOSS to
> churches and members in my area. My primary work will be, of course,
> training folks in securing their Win-boxes (as much as possible) with free
> security software, and other good stuff. Of course, I'll promote Linux and
> Unix, too, but I won't exclude someone who can't make the leap. You have
> to walk before you can run. I won't offer any software that isn't free.
> I'll try to help with trouble-shooting if they need it, and it's something
> I can fix.
> 
> If it grows -- if God blesses the effort and gives an increase -- then
> I'll keep going. If not, it won't be a major loss. Just one more
> hair-brained idea that I've had. If you have a favorite distro you want to
> contribute, I'll be glad to pass it on, with some exceptions. I already
> have several versions of Knoppix, SuSE 8.2, SUSE 9.2, RH 6.2 & 7.3, Ubuntu
> 4.10 and of course, FreeBSD 4.8 thru 5.3. I'll take any consumer-oriented
> distro like Mandrake, later versions of RedHat, earlier versions of SuSE
> (for older machines), and just about any run-from-CD stuff.
> 
> --
> Ed Hurst
> ----------------

I've posted on this list about my experience helping a family switch. 
I'm not getting paid for it, but it's an opportunity to get some good
feedback.  Interestingly, I've had a total of what, maybe 6 support
calls?  I've spent 4 hours at their house, and about three on their
box.  I've installed Ubuntu, transferred her data back onto her box,
and setup a different wallpaper.  I've got another thing or two to
accomplish, and I'll be done.  OOo loads pretty quickly on her 350Mhz
machine.  Even I'm amazed!

I simply explained that I don't support Windows.  She accepted that. 
Many won't.  That's life in the fast lane.  I really hope that works
out for you, Ed.  Sounds like you're in a similar situation -
low-budget.

Don
-- 
DC Parris GNU Evangelist
http://matheteuo.org/
gnumathetes at gmail.com
Free software is like God's love - 
you can share it with anyone anywhere anytime!