The ONE thing M$ is very good at is propaganda, more commonly know as FUD. People like belonging to things and the Windows 7 launch parties make it cool so that people want to belong. Certain sections of the media also take this so that M$ now does not even have to pay for their marketing.

If we have a Linux release party and “Two techies from the area teamed up to highlight ******* *’* key features and answer questions”, people will most likely say or at least think that is because nobody else understands Linux. Insert Linux distro of choice in the appropriate space.

To promote Linux and in this writers case, UBUNTU, we have to give it a cool factor so that general users WANT to belong to the group of Linux users. Make it a cool, fun, easy “club”  to belong to.

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Apologies to all here and at Ubuntu-ZA for not being active the last 3 weeks.

Saturday was Software Freedom Day and around the country fans got together to celebrate and promote free software. In Pretoria the department of science and technology played host again to celebrations which included a bug jam, a distro love station, talks and exhibitions. Pictures of the day’s celebration can be found here. Also in Gauteng, free software fans made their way out to shopping centres to catch the Saturday trade and hand out copies of Linux and share their knowledge. In Cape Town the Cape Linux User Group got their hands dirty to perform maintenance on the UCT Freedom Toaster as well as enjoying some (free) beer (pictures)

September 19 is Software Freedom Day, the day that free and open source fans celebrate their passion for free software. Across the globe, and across South Africa, FOSS advocates are planning day-long celebrations. In Cape Town the Cape Linux User Group (Clug) is planning a day of fixing up the UCT Freedom Toaster as well as having a party.

From the announcement:

Our plans are: Spend a day fixing up our Freedom Toaster and have a bit of a party. There are a whole pile of things that need to be done, so you don’t need any insane Linux-wrangling skills. We need people who can use power tools, people who can chat, and people who would like some help with some Linux problem, and people who’d like to develop front-end software for the toaster.

The aims of the day are:
* Have a party
* Replace the toaster extractor fan
* Replace the LCD
* Start writing some new software for it
* Re-install the software and horrible touch screen driver

For details of other Software Freedom Day celebrations across South Africa check out the Software Freedom Day wiki.

If you want to learn more about free and open source software (FOSS) then you might want to check out the Wits FOSS Awareness Day on Thursday 4 September. The event, which starts at 8am on the Wits University West Campus, will include presentations on the current state of FOSS in South Africa, the position of FOSS within the Wits University community and its role in the university’s Knowledge and Information Management systems (KIM).

While there are some sessions catering to Wits-specific interests, there will also be a number of demonstration sessions on FOSS desktop tools including those on Ubuntu, OpenOffice.org, The Gimp, Blender, Icecast and Audacity. Also of interest to the education community will be demonstrations on FOSS e-learning tools, including OpenOffice.org, Chisimba, podcasting and realtime class tutorials. The FOSS Awareness Day will be held in the FNB Auditorium and anyone who wants to attend can register on the KIM website.