I’ve been spending a part of my time recently looking at some of the Open Source software for managing Internet Cafes. A few of them (CybOrg, OpenKiosk, and Zeiberbude in particular) are quite promising. Having had a good amount of experience of searching for projects in the vast ocean of opensourcia, I have a handy hint for those running projects (one which OpenKiosk could do with heeding):

Make sure that you keep regular dates on your front page

This may seem obvious, but many sites fail to do this. When I go to a project homepage, I want to see:

• A proper homepage, not a sourceforge project page
• To know what the software does, not what you want it to do in the future
• A realistic version number
• To know that it is regularly maintained. One date will not do - I want to know how often you are adding to the site

This information will take your project from niche, hobbyist usage, to a project that people are willing to try. Oh, and if the project is dead in your eyes, then mark it so on the website. Remember - there is no ‘finished’ piece of software, only unfinished software that isn’t maintained anymore.

mrBen

I’ve been a reasonably avid listener of The Linux Link Tech Show for a while now, but I thought that last weeks episode deserved a special mention, mostly due to the insight of Marcel Gagne, author of a few books, not least ‘Moving to Linux: Kiss the Blue Screen of Death Goodbye’.

I was most struck by this comment:

“…the next time you go out to buy a piece of hardware…. ask them if it works with Linux. They probably won’t know - it’s doesn’t matter. What you’re doing is getting the idea across that [Linux users] exist, that we spend money, that it’s worth paying attention to us, and supporting us, and providing us with products.
Be nice to these people [because they're just shop assistants]. Even if you know that [it] works with Linux, ask them anyway. Then ask them if you can return it if it doesn’t work, even if you know that it’s going to work…. eventually that’s going to build up to the point where in the store when they’re sitting there talking about what they should be buying… the people are going to say ‘We had a bunch of guys coming asking for Linux stuff’ and it’s going to make a difference over time.”

He had a lot of other things to say, but it was this statement that really struck me. I, for one, am already in the position where I check every piece of hardware that I purchase for Linux comptability (although it’s not much of a problem these days), but it’s not usually information that I pass on to the retailer. I did once write emails to a couple of manufacturers advising them that I had bought their product because it was supported under Linux, and asking them to include the Linux drivers on their CD, but that’s about it.

mrBen