Just to let you know, there will be a Linux support booth at the expo fair tomorrow, and LSU now offers a Linux START class for students (Linux has always been part of the technical track, but now it has its own class). LSU also offers Firefox, Thunderbird, Open Office, and Red Hat on tigerware. I agree with you 100% about free speech alley, if the religious nuts can be out there, I think the FOSS nuts should be able to also. -- Michael Dolan
On 2/13/07, willhill <williamhill2 at cox.net> wrote: > > Commercial interests own this campus. I have tried without success for a > couple of weeks to set up a Free Speech Alley promotion of free software. > The paradoxical reason for denial was that LSU is "solicitation free" and > they don't want the Alley to be too crowded. The rules work very well to > reduce crowding and the tables in front of the LSU Union sit empty most > days. > I was threatened with a Police "escort" if I were to dare sit at one of > those > empty tables and hand out CDs. Obviously, Microsoft and other spammers > don't > have the same problem getting time, space and facilities on campus to > promote > themselves. > > The rules for non-free speech alley are simple but restrictive. You have > to > be a member of an approved campus organization or have special permission > to > set up. An individual can not just sit down and talk to people. A > commercial interest, it seems, can use a campus organization to promote > itself as was the case of the Microsoft promotion of the "One Note" > program > and Tigerware. An individual is just out of luck, unless they don't mind > being arrested as an intrepid Mary Kay sales lady was yesterday. The net > result is that individuals are squelched in favor of the most organized or > dedicated groups like Amnesty International, Microsoft and military > recruiters. That's hardly free. > > I petitioned all available channels for permission. Pat, at Union > Programs > laid out the rules for me and a friend who was also interested. We were > told > to petition a Vice Chancellor or to find a student group to sponsor us. I > did both. Mr. Monday was busy, and has yet to respond to email requests > or > to use the contact information we provided in a half hour long interview > with > his secretary. A Microsoft employee of the LSU ACM seemed helpful, but no > other interest within the ACM itself has been expressed so far. There no > longer is an LSU LUG and I can't think of another organization that would > be > more interested or willing to sponsor me. The game is not over, but I'm > starting to get tired of it. > > The ease with which Microsoft uses campus facilities and communications > channels to advertise themselves is disgusting. They are able to promote > themselves at specail events like the following quoted, Free Speech Alley > and > LSU's PAWS email system, which you can visit for yourself at paws.lsu.edu. > There you will learn about "Free classes in Microsoft Office and web > design > software that are designed to help you jumpSTART your career." and > "Special > Prices for Microsoft Software" everyday. The word "tool" comes to mind. > > I might just go waste my time at the commercial love fest advertised. It > would be fun to ask questions and report answers back here. > > ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- > > Subject: IT Expo and IT Commons Grand Opening > Date: Tuesday 13 February 2007 10:44 > From: "Broadcast Center" <broadcast at lsu.edu> > To: Broadcast_LSU_Community at gateway.lsu.edu > > Who: Student Government and Information Technology Services > > > > What: Grand Opening of IT Commons and IT Expo > > > > When: 8:00am starting at Middleton Library, guest speaker from the FBI > CyberCrimes Task Force at 8:30am in DODSON Auditorium, then back to > Middleton for more events! > > > > Why: To offer all-day workshops and booths showcasing what LSU IT has to > offer, not to mention the vendors that will be on hand such as > Microsoft, Dell, Apple, Lenovo and Cingular! > > ------------------------------------------------------- > > > _______________________________________________ > General mailing list > General at brlug.net > http://mail.brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/general_brlug.net/attachments/20070213/70564b23/attachment-0001.html
