[GLUG] OT: Computer Faire & Linux

["Casper Labuschagne" <casperl@xxxxxxxxx>]

In February there was a discussion on the Computer Faire in this group:
>One of the cooler parts of the show was selling mandrake and redhat cd's
>to 3 entire high school classes. Believe it or not, these kids in a few
>years will be our market.
>On Wed, 2002-02-13 at 15:25, Andre de Koning wrote:
>> Are you referring to the same kiddies that will in a few years become your
>> potential market / customers?

Does anyone know if there is going to be any Linux presence on this year's computer faire?  If so will it be A) Companies creating Linux distributions ie Red Hat or B) Companies delivering Linux services and training ie Obsidian or C) Linux user groups purely advocating Linux for the love of it? or D) Microsoft rules the business community and don't you ever forget it!

I presume as usual it will be D) plus a sprinkling of B) with a lukewarm mixture of some 'yes we have some Red Hat CD's somewhere on our stand in case you openly insist that you really are that way inclined - just don't say it too loudly in case someone stares at us...'

As a side note, I remember the original computer faires in 1980/1/2/3 that was held annually in April, in either the Great Hall at Wits University or at the Old Milner Park showgrounds.  It was run by a computer club called TACC or TAC2 that stood for the Transvaal Amatuer Computer Club.  The Computer Faire became a huge event in due course and the running of the show was passed on to an exhibitions company at the time with THE ONLY provision that TAC2 will forever have a free stand at the show.  While Jennigay Coetzer was still involved with the Faire the agreement was honoured but somewhere in the early 90's the trademark Computer Faire was sold (for BIG BUCKS of course!) and naturally the amatuer / user group community was shafted by BIG BUSINESS!

Somewhere in the mid 90's I stopped going to the Computer Faire, mainly for these reasons:
1) The Faire was increasingly business to business orientated with decreasing relevance for the man in the street or the average owner of a PC
2) In the ages before the Internet (and during the years of sanctions against SA) your ownly hope to source a product in South Africa was to go to the Faire and walk your legs off while searching.  And of course, the pamphlets and directories of exhibitors were valuable resources to which you referred all year.  Now we have the world wide web and frankly I wonder what is the point in making the effort of going to the Faire, just to find that many (most) people manning the stands have very little if any knowledge of the products they represent, that is if they are aware that they sell the product at all...
3) There is (and always has been) a disgusting tendency by SA IT distributors to delay the launch of a product until the Computer Faire.  ie: If printer XYZ is released in America in January their distributors will officially only launch printer XYZ in SA in late May at the Computer Faire.  With the internet I can have my revenge on SA distributors (the few that are still left) and order what I want - when I want.
4) The majority of pamphlet hunting grey suits aimlessly wandering the aisles are Tourists!  Yes, Tourists, the type who use the annaul pilgrimage to the Computer Faire as an opportunity to travel away from their company desks for a day in order to pay hommage to the BIG COMPUTER COMPANY whose FANTASTIC products they daily use.
5) Having said all this, no respectable computer company in South Africa can really afford to stay away from the Computer Faire.  "You simply have to be there to be seen, Doll!"

If there is / were to be a stand exclusively extolling the virtues of the Penguin at the Faire, I would most certainly be prepared to volunteer my time for an issue that I feel passionate about.  Having presented my criticism of the faire, I certainly feel that given the constraints on budgets and the weak purchasing power of the Rand coupled to the awesome power or Linux we certainly have something to advocate to the business community.  IMHO it is especially education and the small office / home office market where Linux needs to be promoted, because that is precisely where Linux can deliver the most value for people.

Or simply just for the love of it... which was what the original Computer Faire was all about.


Casper Labuschagne
Durban, South Africa
casperl@xxxxxxxxx


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