[plug] did anyone manage to record the channel 10 linux article?

[Christian]

On Mon, 18 Jan 1999, Chris Cornish wrote:
> neil this was mentiond by both mike and my self on many ocassions that
> it is OSS not shareware and i also explained what it was (oss that is).
> I did record it and i will be having strong words with the reporter
> but i will give it to him even though some of his info was not corect
> that he gave he was on our side and not M$ wich is a good thing
> becouse it means i might be able to get back on tv and corect him for
> what he said.

It's actually probably not as bad as everyone feels that the reporter
called it "shareware".  Ok, so we know it's NOT shareware and, most of us,
totally dislike the whole concept of shareware, but still, to most people,
shareware is a good thing.  Most people don't intend to pay for shareware
so they see it as virtually the same thing as freeware (which of course
Linux isn't either but a TV reporter probably will NEVER understand that
distinciton).  In the end it almost ends up being the same thing to the
average Joe Public since he sees it as cool, free (beer, not speech)
software that works better than the software he's paying for currently. 
In the end, it's still more or less a good thing since it increases
Linux's public profile and also will (hopefully) lead to follow up stories
where the reporters can enjoy lecturing people explaining the intricacies
of "Free software versus Freeware versus Shareware" and the distinctions
between them.

Linux and Free software have a public appeal that goes beyond the
technical aspects and which journalists find they can't ignore.  Think
about it, Windows 95 on the day it was released got some coverage (so did
Win98 I think) and think of how many millions more users these operating
systems have than Linux?

Either way, if we just keep telling these people about Linux and Free
software, without pissing them off, sooner or later some accurcy HAS to
filter through.  I hope.

Cya,

Christian.

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