[freegeek-startup] Introduction - intentions of a new free geek startup

[Iain (FreeGeek) Davidson]

Shawn,
  Congrat's on plowing ahead on starting up a Free Geek type program.  Where
are you exactly again?

I'm from Bellingham, and I am currently involved with two 'Free Geek' type
projects.
Hoping that both of them will be successful in their own way....
http://vaultechnology.com  and http://relectronics.org .

If you haven't seen some of the information that I collected on the
FreekiWiki  ( http://wiki.freegeek.org/index.php/Free_Geek_Bellingham<http://wiki.freegeek.org/Free_Geek_Bellingham>)
take a gander at those Wiki pages and some of the pictures that I took
back in June ( http://gallery.freegeek.org/mothership_june2006<http://gallery.freegeek.org/>).

In the next week or so, I'll be updating some wiki pages of information in
all three locations.   Hoping to follow the great Free Geek model, and have
all our documentation/research 'Open Source'ed and public for all.  Keep
your eyes open for various analysis and research notes on various solutions
to the issues that we have faced here.

I consider myself quite versed in the Free Geek model, and after spending
several days around Oso and the FG-Mothership staff..  I think I can say I'm
the leading FG-model expert north of Olympia. :)  So ask away!  Keep those
questions flying.. :)
-Iain

On 8/5/06, Shawn Campbell <obe1968 at yahoo.com > wrote:
>
> Fellow Geeks;
>
> Hello, my name is Shawn Campbell and I am a geek through and through. I
> have worked in various I.T positions for the past 15 years and have worked
> on and off with Linux (mainly red hat and fedora core) for the past 6 years.
> I like to learn all that I can about different technologies, and I am even
> trying to convince my boss about starting to use some open source solutions
> in our corporate network. My background is mainly Microsoft, which I cannot
> stand and would like to see go down someday. I hope someday that the Linux
> community comes together even more, and gets some general consensus on what
> a Linux desktop should be for the average user no matter what distro they
> use.
>
> Over two years ago I wanted to start something in the community in which I
> work and live, but I did not know what. I do not want a business that makes
> millions a year by exploitation or other ill means, but would also like to
> make a comfortable living. A year ago I found out about Free Geek and have
> tried to get information in the past, but was unsuccessful. It was only
> recently that I found that the original Free Geek had a lot of their
> information posted on a wiki site, and some other responses from Free Geek
> Chicago.
>
> I understand in principle and on paper what it takes (and agree with) the
> way Free Geek is run and should be. I think it is one of the best ideas in
> today's age when everything seems to be about technology. One of our
> internal statements is "Helping bridge the digital divide for all". I also
> understand the time involved, as well as there are going to be a lot of
> bumps and bruises along the way. But with the support of the now upcoming
> staff, the support of the other Free Geeks, and hopefully large community
> support, we will be successful as well.
>
> It is my intention to (hopefully) get approved for a full free geek
> franchise, and I understand that we need to start out as an affiliate. I
> know that myself and other associates will be able to accomplish many of
> free geeks goals in a short period of time in our community. We have already
> begun filing the paperwork for  state acceptance and will be working on our
> 501(c)(3) within the next two months.
>
> With all of this said, I do only have one question that I could not find a
> solid answer to. It is stated that Free Geeks are to use open source
> whenever possible, but what about the users that do not want a Linux based
> system? Even though I do not like or believe in Microsoft, it can still help
> us get recycled equipment into users hands and still keep it out of the
> landfills. Microsoft has a program (MAR) that sells very cheap legit
> license's for Windows 98 and Windows 2000. Is this against the Free Geek
> principles and will it disqualify us if that is what the users want?
>
> Thank you for taking the time to listening to my ramblings and hopefully
> we will be joining you all very soon.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Shawn M. Campbell
> Rutherford County Computer Recyclers
>
> P.S. also looking for new and cooler name suggestions if anyone has any
> :o)
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.freegeek.org/pipermail/startup/attachments/20060806/bd1e51c0/attachment.html