Re: Introduction
Stephen Lynch said:
> Microsoft Charity Licensing in general, and Techsoup's even greater
> discounts, greatly reduces the (lowercase) free argument for
> (uppercase) Free software, at least for the initial purchase
> decision.
That's certainly true.
> One counter-argument is that Free software "klls the snake".
> No worry about whether to pay for current upgrade or wait for
> the next one. And if you need a new webserver or office software
> for 10 new uisers, you can set it up today, not "as soon as the
> order goes through"
Also true, but the reality of the organization that I'm currently dealing
with is that they desperately want classroom based training, so that they
can properly use whatever technology ultimately gets deployed. Alas, I
know of no local facility that provides OpenOffice.org training. (I am
considering what I can do to help remedy that.)
I'm confident that I can implement a GNU/Linux _server_ solution. I'm
less confident that a GNU/Linux _desktop_ solution will be appropriate.
As good as OpenOffice.org is, I'm not convinced that it'll satisfy the
(sometimes) exacting formatting requirements for MS Word grant templates.
> I agree there is a need to get more practical information into
> the hands of non-profits. Towards that end, I'm putting together
> a presentation entitled "25 Free Software Applications
> you can start using Monday". Attendees would get a server
> and a client CD, preconfigured to run Asterisk, Postfix, Gallery.
I'm very interested in this idea. How close to "done" are you with the
preparation? Anything I can do to assist? Can you share the 25 apps that
you recommend?
> As always, the truly killer non-profit Free app for would be a high
> quality donor tracking database.
Absolutely. I would think that a LAMP (or LAPP, if you insist on
PostgreSQL instead of MySQL) web-based system is "low hanging fruit"?
(This, coming from the guy who still struggles with the M and P in LAMP
systems!)
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