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In an effort to help proliferate the Linux Desktop, HeliOS Solutions has contacted a number of Big Box stores and smaller businesses throughout the Austin Metro Area and asked them if we could set up professional and attractive displays for Linux Live CD's. Three are in as long as the displays are professional. One of them is balking because they don't want Microsoft suing them for Intellectual Property violations. This IP business has begun to get tiresome. Here's how we can make them either show the code or shut the hell up.

o...what happened. Initially we were swamped. People came through the door and converged on the rooms. In fact, it took most of the volunteers by surprise. Quickly adjusting, we were able to answer the many questions thrown at us and gladly demonstrated, and in many cases installed Linux on the spot. There are lessons for US to learn however...

Now, to those of you who operate under the assumption that Corporate Linux has any viable interest in the Linux Desktop, I am about to cause you great amounts of disappointment and angst. You in particular need to pay attention to what is said from this point and absorb it to the best of your ability. Your life may need to take a new direction if yours hinges on the Linux Corporate working with the Linux Community At Large. Again...This is what you said to me.

Prior to The Portland event, I made over 150 random phone calls using the Portland Oregon directory and took a sort of survey/opinion poll. This is no where in the ballpark of scientific so don't read into it what isn't there. After I qualified them as computer users, I wanted to know a few things. Identifying myself as a computer user's advocate, I asked them four questions.

It did what it was designed to do...Lindependence 2008, that is. Not only was it to bring Linux to new users, it was to incite others to copy the effort. It worked. This time, it's the city of Portland Oregon that is hosting Lindependence. Will they convert the whole city? Geek please. What they will do however is prove that our instincts were right...LIndependence wasn't a one trick pony. And the two guys that are making the Portland Penguin Parade happen? Are they as diametrically opposed politically and socially as Larry and Ken? Let's take a look.

Our biggest hurdle has been the fear of change. People operate within their comfort zones and it takes a lot to get them dislodged. That above most everything else, is what we've fought the whole time. The frustrating thing is that we know many of them will free themselves...but they just don't know they have a choice. So I made a phone call.

Got visions of saving the world? Every now and then it takes spending some time in someone else's world to realize you don't always have all the answers. To some of us, that isn't just a blow to our egos...it's a sea change in the way we perceive ourselves and our role in the little world we've created.

It would seem that some of the premiere Linux News sources didn't think this effort was "newsworthy". Even though they said they would support the effort early on...they didn't. We didn't ask them for money...just ink and bytes. Even after saying they would cover it, they didn't... Now let's take a look at who did and didn't keep their word.

So far, I have come away with several interesting realizations, the more important of which are these: That people are more ready and willing to distance themselves from Microsoft than I had originally anticipated, and translating that into getting them to use Free/Open Source Software will have a huge effect on the digital landscape in this area and elsewhere â?? and let me emphasize the elsewhere because if it can happen here, it can happen elsewhere. So whoâ??s ready to make history in their community?

But listen...you might want to reconsider your stand on being my exact opposite. You know a small bit of moderation goes a long way. You may want to ponder your decision to walk to the very end of that spectrum...the "zealot" one. You don't honestly want to wear that title...that exact opposite of zealot. That would make you a coward.

Take one small town, one small group of dedicated Linux Geeks and what do you get? You get a town that is destined to run Linux on their computers. The first session of Lindependence 2008 set sail for the history books yesterday and there were some surprises for those who put on this event...and even more for some of those who attended.

This is a new concept for anyone who's spent their computing life running Windows. We are going to introduce them to our world and that being so, I would like you to tell Felton just how important this decision is. Write a one or two paragraph "welcome" letter. Tell the people of Felton why this decision is important to them and how much better operating their computer will be. Now..this may sound odd coming from me...

And Please...don't respond by mentioning in any way, shape or form how the "Linux Community" is going to rise to the challenge. There is no "Linux Community". Those who believe there is...go ahead. Leave that tooth under your pillow one more night. The Tooth Fairy probably just got behind in her rounds.

I thought that I needed to stop talking with strangers on planes, trains, and buses. It just wasn't working. People don't trust strangers. In the US, people trust TV. If it is on TV, it is real. Or at least is socially real. It's accepted. It's mainstream. So I decided that I needed to stop saying the same thing over and over again to people on planes, trains, and buses, and I needed to get backing from famous people.

Recently, I did a laptop install for an individual that needed to upload files to his home computer from his laptop. It was important to him to do so. He didn't need a full feature SSH protocol or anything remotely (sorry) close to it. Many of the files are too big to get past his email size limit so he was worried that his Linux Box wouldn't be able to do what his Windows install did. That is where droopy comes in. That fact that it is a Python script endears me immediately but more so, the absolute ease by which it is utilized makes it the perfect little app for almost anyone's use.

And please...don't tell me "that's what you get for allowing Javascript to run in my browser." I refuse to be intimidated into crippling my computing experience. Extensions like no-script might take care of this but at what cost? No...we fix the problem, not amputate part of the browsing experience for expediency.

Many people have gotten the impression that they have to "be somebody" in order to participate or represent their distro during LINdependence 2008. Not only is that untrue, it would probably be counter-productive. Herein we talk about one everyday distro user who saw the value of participating in this project and jumped in with both feet. It will be surprising to many what this small effort is going to yield for his/her distro of choice.

How quickly the mighty retrograde their product line. And in the end, it is pretty funny. It wasn't a multi-billion dollar coalition of global competitors that banded together to make Microsoft retreat. It was a ragged band of developers, users and Advocates who spend as much time ripping into each other as they do fighting off Microsoft. It was an entity that doesn't even have a physical address or even a real leadership presence that forced Microsoft to all but abandon their billion dollar Vista venture and re-issue XP. How it is being done is even more amusing.

Yep, we're getting ready to start our print advertising campaign and we are going to need some eye-catching graphics to compete. Now, I know there are some of you that produce stunning work and far be it from me to ever ask anyone to do anything for free... That's a joke folks...insert laughter here and let's move along.

(In preparation for LINdependence 2008) We, therefore, the computer users of the world solemnly publish and declare that all computer users ought to be free and independent of proprietary software; that they are absolved from all allegiances to, and all political and social connection to, proprietary software, and claim all rights digital freedom provides.