Software Freedom Day report

[Ben Scott]

Hi all,

  Sat 19 Sep 2009 was Software Freedom Day (and also Talk Like a
Pirate Day, arrr).  Several volunteers gathered in one corner of
Pulaski Park, by the intersection of Bridge and Pine Streets, in
Manchester, NH.  Arc Riley, Broderick Lang, Jim Kuzdrall, Eric Stein,
Greg (.+), and myself were there most of the day.  Bill Sconce
rendezvoused first thing to drop off Tuxina (a relative of Tux's, I
presume), a pavilion, and a banner, all of which lent significant
visibility to the site -- thanks, Bill!  Arc had a good sized stack of
genuine Ubuntu CDs, with stickers.  Jim brought a nifty display
showcasing some of the Real Work(TM) he's done in QCAD, a Free
Software CAD package.  There were tables and chairs aplenty.

  The weather mostly cooperated.  It was cool but not cold, and
reasonably sunny, and it wasn't raining.  It was, however, extremely
windy.  *Extremely*.  We had to use a bungee cord to seat-belt Tuxina
into her chair -- and she and her chair still blew over several times.
 Papers with rocks piled on them would move the rocks.  We had to
weight the pavilion legs down with toolboxes and an 1 kVa UPS Jim had
brought along.  I brought the promised helium tank, but balloons
tended to die quickly due to the frenetic gyrations induced by the
gusts.  However, while picking up said tank, on impulse I grabbed one
of those plastic-flags-on-a-line things ("pennant line").  Hung around
our site and powered by the near-gale wind, that worked out very well.
 Best $11.95 I've ever spent on a demo.  Recommended.

  By accident, we only had a few of The Open Education Discs.  I would
have liked to have a bunch of those, too.  FOSS for MS Windows is the
"gateway drug" to Linux.  ;-)  It introduces people to the concept of
Free Software in a smaller, easier step, while also helping wean
people off proprietary software.  Once you're switched to all FOSS
apps, jumping to a new OS is easy.  Something to (try to) remember for
next year.

  We saw moderate foot traffic, and plenty of vehicular traffic, but
not as much interest as we had hoped, given the high visibility
location.  It's sad commentary on the human condition that many people
tend to eye anything "free" with suspicion.  Still, we gave out a
couple dozen CDs and fliers, and that's a lot more than none.  It was
speculated that a location closer to a library or similar spot might
have put people in a more appropriate mindset.  Pulaski Park appeared
to be more of a recreational center.  It we were giving away basket
balls, we would have been swamped.  Or maybe it was just the weather,
or some other factor not determined.  Human dynamics remains an
imprecise field of study.

  Thanks again to all who helped.  Happy Software Freedom Day, me maties!

-- Ben