AREL Report

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= Fedora Events: AREL Report =

AREL is a local organisation that promotes education and entertainment. They were organising a multimedia event on sunday which aimed at introducing all the organisation of the area (photo, radio, internet, computer sciencing...) Some people who wish to create a local LUG were there to show open-source softwares and discuss about creating a local lug.

I was among them.

We were about 4 men on the booth promoting freesoftware. 3 of them had brought there laptop (i don't have one) to show their distributions. Moreover, I could not bring my own computer with me as I went there by train.

It was a very local event, then about 100 - 150 people came to the event in general. Many people came and asked questions about free software in general. As it was a first approach meeting in the area, it was more relevant to explain free software principles. Many of them had already heard about Linux, but no distribution name was known.

About Fedora, not having my own laptop caused me a lot of problems. First, it was very difficult to request a 100% Fedora/Kadischi laptop. My friends do not know about Fedora that much and are more at ease - for the moment - with debian-like distribution.

Then, not having a laptop was as well a problem to burn iso. The public were more interested in live-cd and I was very reluctant to burn a still-in-developpment live cd based on a beta-distribution. I only burnt one of them, to a Fedora fan (wow!).

Many people were very interested in free software, as an alternative of warez and piracy. That is a good point we have for us. Some of them failed to understand that it is possible to make software for free.

However i learned a lot of things about promoting fedora core. - I need a laptop :) - We really need a live cd. About it, I think that we must keep the way it is at the moment, I mean, zero-configuration live-cd, that boots up without asking any question. Many people attending on the booth were a bit disturbed by the simple choice of the screen resolution question of Ubuntu live-cd for example. - We really need video to promote Fedora Core. Red Hat's videos (truthappens, choice, inevitable) are good ones to attract public attention and establishing a first contact with people, but they are not relevant for Fedora. I am going to see what can be done about this kind of video but I can't promise anything.

Photos of the booth are available online there : http://mrtomlinux.multiply.com/photos/album/6

About the local lug, it is likely to be created soon. It was a good day for free software, but not so good for fedora.

Cheers

Thomas Canniot

