Re: [seul-edu] Simplified End User Linux

[Justin Zeigler <zqc@zqc.com>]

Um,
  My main point is that there are people looking 
for Open Source education information. When I first
started working toward putting linux in schools I
Searched the web for linux and education what I found 
mostly was sites covering one aspect or the other and
when I saw Simplified End User Linux my first thought
was that SEUL-EDU for learning linux and making an 
easier Desktop for new users. 

  As a counter to your advertising analogy I would 
like to point out that your customers can't find you 
if you aren't were they are looking. In my opinion 
SEUL-EDU is great and needs more people, I think that 
some people are not sure about it (seul-edu) do to the 
name. This is what (I think) has partially led to the 
fragmentation of our shared goal. 

  Mailing lists are great but, they make it very hard 
for new people to catch up to the level of those who
have been on the list for a while. Maybe a page with a 
synopsis of what each thread is about would be more 
helpful to people new to the list.

  SEUL-EDU has some wonderful people already. I am quite
positive that the point we are at now could not have 
been reached without the amazing and diligent work by 
Doug Loss and others.

  Finally just because I suggest a new domain/server does
not mean I think SEUL/EDU should be done away with or 
branched off. In my opinion there is no reason that 
www.something-edu-linux.com can't just be an intro/news 
page that is a portal or even a redirect to the main
SEUL-EDU Page. 

Doug Loss wrote:
> 
> Michael Williams wrote:
> >
> > Justin Zeigler wrote:
> >
> > >   As one of the guys helping put linux in schools (working
> > > with Harry McGregor) I feel that this list has outgrown its
> > > place in SEUL.
> > >
> > > What I feel is needed
> > > is one site where the information we all have can be easily
> > > shared.
> > >
> > >   May I encourage that we re-spawn the existing SEUL-EDU as a
> > > new independent group with a focus of Anything Open Sourced for
> > > Anything Education.
> > >
> > May I suggest contributing to k12linux.org.
> > What you have suggested is exactly what the site was created for.
> >
> I think Michael is right here.  One of the problems I see is that a lot
> of sites are being set up without much investigation of what already
> exists, and either duplicate already available content or miss coverage
> in places where they could make real contributions.  We don't need to
> spawn yet another site like that.
> 
> k12linux.org sounds like a good domain for something like this.  I'm
> reluctant to recreate SEUL/edu at this point because we're just now
> beginning to get some actual notice and (I hope) respect for what we're
> doing.  There's an old rule of thumb in the advertising business that
> says whenever you make any change (name change, new address, new
> telephone number, etc.) you lose half your revenue for three months.
> Separating from SEUL and becoming an independent entity would be
> unnessarily confusing, I'm afraid.  Besides, does SEUL really have the
> connotations of things for unsophisticated users that LinuxNewbie (for
> instance) has?  That was the original goal of SEUL, but the organization
> has expanded and transformed so that any programs that make Linux easier
> and more interesting to use on the desktop fit the mission statement.
> Assuming we ever rewrite the mission statement.  Besides SEUL/edu,
> there's SEUL/pub, and there will be at least one new SEUL/? section
> coming along in the next few weeks.
> 
> As to the software being hard to find here, I don't really think that's
> the case.  If you do a websearch for Linux and education, you'll find
> SEUL/edu pages coming up on every combination of words you can think
> of.  How would having a separate domain change that?
> 
> --
> Doug Loss                 Even if you're on the right track,
> Data Network Coordinator  you'll get run over if you just
> Bloomsburg University     sit there.
> dloss@bloomu.edu                Will Rogers