Ideas for speech about Linux/OSS

[K2712]

I'm taking a public speaking course, and my next assignment is an informative speech about a topic you feel you know better than anyone else in the course. While I am not a linux expert, I have been using arch as my primary OS for ~2 years, and since there are no other obvious computer "geeks" in my class, I thought I would give my speech on Linux and Open Source Software. The biggest problem with this is how to make it interesting for my classmates, most of whom don't use computers for anything more than myspace, facebook, etc...

Any ideas you guys could provide would be great, or if you think this is a hopeless cause, let me know.

Thanks in advance.

[fuscia]

see if you can appeal to the 'smiley-face' mentality. think of all the ways you can appeal to the typical chatroomers. you know, stuff like 'tons of really cool themes', 'way more im software', 'a nano that [i]really rocks', etc.

[Bartender]

Man, I hate public speaking

If you got up there and started speaking about how Linux is cool and it's free and lots of people are starting to use it, I'm guessing it'd be hard to keep their interest.
What about wrapping your speech around the whole FOSS concept?

I mean, we kinda take it for granted - "Oh, Edgy's out now, I think I'll upgrade."

But there's a really exciting story behind that. We're in the midst of a movement unlike anything that I can think of in human history.
Pyramids and dams and other massive construction projects have been driven by egos, slavery, and/or various methods by which people were paid for their labor.
Amazing scientific discoveries, if not accidental, often trace back to one person or a small group of people who had a vision of what might be possible.
Social movements often coalesce around one leader, or are ignited by tyrants.

Has there ever been a movement where people from all over the planet donated their time and energy with little else driving them than the satisfaction of being part of something great? They know people are always looking to make money from their donated efforts, and they know their contributions might quickly be replaced by someone else's superior code, yet they do it anyway.
Such a thing wasn't even conceivable until the internet enabled global communication and data transfer.

Maybe you could develop a good speech by focusing on the movement, not the OS.

[Mateo]

linux and "oss" aren't one and the same. linux is a piece of oss.

[Tomosaur]

Talk about how everything is free, and it's not as difficult as the Microsoft fanboys like to make out. You could even take some LiveCDs with you and hopefully get a few converts :P. But yeah - stay out of the technical realm, people just aren't interested. Go for the philosophy and freedom edge.

[bodycoach2]

Try some of the presentation material from the Wiki:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Presentations


I'm taking a public speaking course, and my next assignment is an informative speech about a topic you feel you know better than anyone else in the course. While I am not a linux expert, I have been using arch as my primary OS for ~2 years, and since there are no other obvious computer "geeks" in my class, I thought I would give my speech on Linux and Open Source Software. The biggest problem with this is how to make it interesting for my classmates, most of whom don't use computers for anything more than myspace, facebook, etc...

Any ideas you guys could provide would be great, or if you think this is a hopeless cause, let me know.

Thanks in advance.

[bodycoach2]

Also, you can use Revolution OS :

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7707585592627775409&q=revolution+os&hl=en

[maniacmusician]

As others have said, focus on the Free aspect of things. Freedom to use, to modify, to not use Windows.

Are you allowed to have demonstrations (pictures, videos, hooking up a computer to a projector) or is it strictly just speaking?

[az]

There are some excellent and compelling texts on software freedom here:

http://softwarefreedomday.org/SoftwareFreedom
(I think the voting machine video is really compelling, especially if you live in the US)
http://softwarefreedomday.org/about

You may also describe how the business model is different than a proprietary OS. In the proprietary world, you sell the software. You protect your property using patents, copyright and trademark. Software patents are counterproductive to innovation. Google the most common texts about software patents and read the quote from Bill Gates regarding software patents.

Basically, the biggest company gets to decide what software is allowed to be written/distributed/sold. Recently, though, Microsoft got bitten in the butt by the mp3 patents (150 million, I think). Soon enough, this minefield will become too much hassle and not feasable for them to use anymore and it will eventually end.

The free-libre model is not one where you sell the software, but where the software is not property at all. It's just there and allows you to make money by making computers do stuff. The free-libre software industry is a services industry. It is a huge chunk of the IT sector. The IT sector accounts for about 10 percent of the US and EU GDP. FLOSS is a multi-billion dollar industry.

See this recent study:http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/ict/policy/doc/2006-11-20-flossimpact.pdf

[bodycoach2]

The software freedom day thing is pretty cool. That, and Pia Waugh is a cutey!

[K2712]

Thanks, everyone, for the replies. Luckily, my speech only has to be between 5 and 7 minutes, which I think can easily be taken up by talking about how the community comes together to create such an incredible thing as Ubuntu, Firefox, or Open Office. I'm a beginning CS major who's just learning to program, and it amazes me still that such great software is written by people who(mostly) don't expect any financial return from it. It gives me hope for the world...