Distribution Team, Hello. My name is Matt DeGoey, and I have a few quick questions for you. I am a Student Technology Assistant for the Ohio Dominican University Computer Helpdesk, as well as a student and CIS major at Ohio Dominican. A few times a week our Helpdesk offers different workshops dealing with various computer related items, ranging from the basics of Microsoft Office products, using the school's online utilities, and safe/secure computing. In a meeting a few months ago, dealing with the workshops being offered this semester, the managers told us that if we had an idea for a new workshop, or a way to improve an existing one, to let them know. Immediately an idea came to me. I have become very interested in the open source movement recently, and found myself ferverously trying to find open source products to use for my everyday and productivity needs involving my computer. One of my instructors, in a class discussion about open source, mentioned OpenOffice.org, and I decided to try it out. Needless to say, I was impressed. I was asstonished by the fact that I was using a fully capable office suite, capable of writing papers and creating spreadsheets, but I obtained it, free of charge. I was beating myself in the head over the next few days, feeling like a complete moron for going 50/50 with my dad on a copy of Office XP Student and Teacher Edition, when your product was out there, free to obtain, use, and working just as well as Microsoft's product. Eventually I found myself experimenting with The GIMP, and have never looked back.
This is where my idea came from. You see, Ohio Dominican is a private Catholic university, thus, it is not cheap to attend (hint hint). The premise for my workshop was this: we (the students) pay around $20,000 in tuition a year, so why pay for software when there are free alternatives out there that are just as capable as the software you buy in the store? I started on a working design, and now am working on a finalized product for the workshop, aiming for a test run in mid April. The products I've decided to highlight are: OpenOffice.org, The GIMP, and the Mozilla Firefox browser (you don't buy browsers in stores, but hey, it's better than IE). My desire for the workshop is to include a free CD to anyone who attends the workshop (max of 10 people per workshop), complete with all the software I would demonstrate durring the workshop. This way, if they like any of it, they can immediately go back to their dorm or home and try it out. However, one of my managers has asked that I make sure I am able to freely distribute copies to students before I do anything. This leads me to my questions: 1) Am I able to provide attendees with a CD containing a full copy of OpenOffice.org 1.1.4 (or the latest stable release at the time of the workshop); and 2) Are there any guidelines I must follow for distributing a CD with a copy of OpenOffice.org, if I am permitted to do so. I am intending to distribute all of the software on one CD if I can, but am willing to make a separate CD for each item. I have the permission of my managers to distribute a CD with the software I demonstrate, but we as a Helpdesk are not looking to become a distributor as a whole. I am wanting to provide copies as a means of good gesture, and as an incentive for attending the workshop. We are more than likely only going to do the workshop once this semester, but I am looking at the workshop being available more than once next semester, if all goes well that is. Please reply letting me know of any guidelines I will need to follow, as well as any links or documentation that may help as well, so that I might give them to my managers. Thank you, and I look forward to your reply. Sincerely, Matthew DeGoey --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
