[Fsf-friends] Re: KC and open source

[Kush]

>>
>> but then why arent successful projects shared or talked about
>> in forums like this one? 
>
I think, we need to develop one single mega site (preferably wiki based 
etc) for pooling all our talk/ideas of all our LUGs and sharing of 
successful,unsuccessful projects experiences for the time being. Later 
on (after an year or two), there will be differences of opinion and 
groups may make other sites for the same purpose or as offshoots of this 
major portal which is inevitable and also a good thing --the more the 
merrier.

There will need to be some solid editing/copy writing, website 
reviewing/rating etc since most of us are nerds and we need the 
strengths of others who are less technical minded etc. A case in point 
is the way the Ubuntu project has people from different backgrounds --eg 
Mathew East collaborates on the project by coordinating for the 
localisation team even though his speciality is that of a lawyer and 
that too across 2 or 3 countries (Italian, English and French).

I feel we hardly know each others strengths even in our own smaller 
groups and most nerds feel safer with people of similar types. But our 
real challenge is to be salesmen sometimes and increase our ability to 
appreciate others and convince them to hear us (by first improving our 
ability to listen to them). A big problem in adoption of open source is, 
I feel with our inability to get thru to teachers and the retired people 
and specially the poorer middle class. The critical mass is not 
happenning with respect to seeing open source as a prestigious way of 
making money.  Open source projects are not talked about in the business 
magazines as something which a group of 15 year olds or 25 year old 
whizkids have accomplished and made money on or helped the business in 
any cost effective way. This is unlike the impetus given by the media in 
the US to whizkid stories at the start of the PC phenomena in the 70s or 
80s.

Kush