[Ambassadors] Another Idea

[Onyeibo Oku]

On Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:14 +0200, "Ahmed Mohamed Araby"
<egydev at fedoraproject.org> wrote:
>  I think we (Ambassadors) need to know more about theses problem facing
> people in Africa because we should have answers for such questions
> so more problems are welcomed :)
> 
> -- 
> Greetings,
> Ahmed M. Araby (egydev)
> 

That is encouraging, Ahmed.

The Linux OS is largely an internet dependent OS and Fedora is not
excluded.  Unfortunately, the internet is a luxury that most Africans
can't afford.  Yet, Africans need Linux more than any OS out there. 
Everyday, an African buys a pirated software because he wants to perform
a task on Windows.  Most Windows installations in Nigeria (for example)
are cracked.  Most users can afford the genuine thing over time (...
longer time) but piracy comes cheap and fast.

An average Nigerian user needs to know that Linux provides the platform
for their usual applications (e.g Openoffice.org Writer/AbiWord for Word
processing, Firefox for Internet Browsing, and Calc/Gnumeric for
Spreadsheets and, of course, .... you know the rest of them).  They need
to know that they can get the usual functionality at little or zero cost
(although in reality, there's nothing like zero cost ... but I guess you
know what I mean).  Getting this information across is not really the
problem.  The real problem is sustaining the enthusiasm.  I have been
able to convince some to use Fedora but its sad to watch them resort to
their pirated software because they couldn't do something ...something
really simple 

Most computer users here are spoiled by the Windows ease  (Click and
move on ... you know, like a moron).  You can understand why chasing
dependencies is sufficient to turn them off.  So any tool to make life
easier is highly welcome.  I believe they'll be more willing to explore
Linux when we have more IT inclined persons who are confident with the
basics: Installation, Updates/dependencies and the Super-User
Administrative concept.  The more the Africans who are independent and
efficient in those, the better for African Ambassadors.  The rest will
follow shortly.  Its not good when the converts call you to perform such
simple tasks.  Once that starts happening, you stand a chance of loosing
them because there are too many people to reach.

Summary: 
1. We need more Ambassadors
2. We need more anti-dummy tools (for the idiots)
3. We need more variety in to choose from

Regards

Oku, Onyeibo
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Twohot

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