Hello!
We at the Swedish Linux association[1] have a advocacy group that promotes free software, not just Linux as the name of our association might indicate, but free software in general, in Sweden.
We really like the OpenCD[2] and the Knoppix[3] GNU/Linux distribution. We think they are great help when promoting free software. They both make it really easy for new users to try free software at ease in their own homes on their own computers without the hassle many feels about installing a new operating system on their computer.
We came up with the idea to take this further and to take advantage of the moment with the user to promote free software in a wider perspective. We came up with what we call "the journey" (yes the name might change). What we want to do is a CD (or other medium) that doesn't only contain free software but also information about the free software movement. All the way from its birth to the present. By doing this we hope to place each program in a wider perspective and describe not only what it is but also why it was written and maybe why it looks/works like it does. Everything within the path of the journey. We hope that this makes the CD (or what it will be) more then a CD with free software. Something that makes a bigger impression. Of course there will be only free software on the CD with source code. Of course there will also be an explanation why the code is there.
The goal is to in a simple and interesting way present the free software movement and provide the user with ready to run free software. Software that they hopefully will enjoy not only because its free and does the job but also because they know why its there and some about the philosophy and the efforts behind it.
We hope to make this available so it can be deployed both on the OpenCD and Knoppix. We intend to make the first version in Swedish. After that we hope to have an English version if it is wanted. So Swedish contributors are wanted.
I really would like some comments on this and I have a bunch of questions.
- Do you think this is this a good idea? - Do you want it? - Does this already exist? - Does my English make sense? - If not, I'm sorry, did my best!
Best regards,
/Marcus Rejås
[1] http://www.se.linux.org [2] http://www.theopencd.org [3] http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/