[Linux-aus] Open source: time for a name change?

[Jacqueline McNally]

At 02:39 PM 08/06/2003, Dan Shearer wrote:

>Until a person reaches that point, what better word do we currently have
>than "Linux" or "Linux-style" to describe Open Source, from OpenBSD
>through to Cygwin? Greg, you started this thread -- can you improve on
>this?
>
>I wonder if it is a solution that works because it seems to irritate all
>technical people about equally: the FSF dislikes it, BSD people dislike
>it, Microsoft dislikes it, fans of Solaris and other Unix variants
>dislike it, and even SCO dislike being called Linux. But non-technical
>and mildly technical people have no problem understanding it, and the
>media loves it.
>
>Who seriously thinks they have a chance of altering this worldwide
>perception?

I don't think it is worldwide, simply because there are a great number of 
people that do not yet have the opportunity to contribute.

When I have the opportunity to chew someone's ear about open-source or free 
software it is often along the lines of collaboration and a shared 
resource. People who are "not" involved in developing or implementing ICT 
solutions just want the computer to do as they expect, whether this is in 
business or for home use.

Business owners or mangers just want results, and home users expect to pick 
it up as they do a pen.

With home users I can usually win them around talking about the community 
aspects of open-source/free, whereas managers it is a shared resource along 
the lines of natural capitalism, see ABC's interview with Amory Lovins, 
Rocky Mountain Institute 
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/bbing/stories/s231834.htm

All the best
Jacqueline McNally
www.decisions-and-designs.com.au/jacqueline

Community Contact, Australia/New Zealand
OpenOffice.org Marketing Project
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