[FM Discuss] Beyond Manuals
John & Melonie Curwood
marketing at lovinglearning.co.nz
Wed Apr 15 12:11:20 PDT 2009
Hi Adam,
I've been thinking about the name for the manual and I liked the term
Janet Swisher used in a previous email "Open Tools for Small Business".
Then I thought maynbe "Free Tools for Small Business" would be a better
title for someone who doesn't know much about Open Source Software. If
anyone has some ideas they are welcome otherwise I will go for Free
Tools for Small Business for the name.
Cheers,
John
John & Melonie Curwood wrote:
>
> Hi Adam,
>
> I'll be happy to take the lead, I haven't finalised a name for it yet
> and will get back to you as soon as I do.
> Won't be able to do much for about a month as we are moving town in a
> few weeks, and will be fairly swamped doing all the moving stuff and
> then getting work set up in a new city.
>
> Cheers,
>
> John
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [FM Discuss] Beyond manuals
> From: adam hyde <adam at flossmanuals.net>
> Date: Wed, April 08, 2009 1:53 pm
> To: discuss at lists.flossmanuals.net
> ok,
> you want to take the lead in this John? that means doing
> some writing,
> convincing others to contribute...
> if so, give me a nod and tell me the name of the manual
> and I will set
> it up
> adam
> On Thu, 2009-04-09 at 06:59 +1200, John & Melonie
> Curwood wrote:
> > Hi Adam,
> >
> > I think this is a great idea, an intro to what does what, how
> it is
> > useful and testimonials could be aligned with relavant
> chapters (e.g. I
> > use open office Calc because..., I use open office writer...,
> open
> > office impress..., you could even include I use evolution
> because... and
> > I use gnucash because... if it were to include the full range of
> > office/business admin tools)
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > John
> >
> >
> > adam hyde wrote:
> > > it wouldnt take us much to set up a manual to tackle this
> situation. we
> > > could outline what softwares do what with maybe a chapter a
> piece. we
> > > dont need to go into how to use the software, but maybe we
> could include
> > > some testimonials from business people saying 'I use open
> office
> > > because ...'
> > >
> > > what do u think john?
> > >
> > > adma
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Tue, 2009-04-07 at 07:07 +1200, John & Melonie Curwood
> wrote:
> > >
> > >> Andy Oram wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> I've been silent for a couple days, but now I have an
> evening to answer FM-related mail and start working on the
> command-line manual again.
> > >>>
> > >>> John's idea below sounds like a really nice project,
> although a big one. To give businesses enough information about all
> the tools for them to feel confident they can trust their businesses
> to free software, you'd have to say a lot about each tool.
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >> With regards to businesses needing enough information to
> feel confident
> > >> I would say yes and no about needing to say alot for all
> the tools. For
> > >> the software that handles the accounts/inventory/invoicing
> I would
> > >> definitely say that something very thorough would be
> required, when
> > >> dealling with Money and accurately and securely keeping
> track of it
> > >> business owners want assurance that a product will do the
> job.
> > >> But for the rest, in my experience most business owners
> think very
> > >> little about what they use and most have a very small
> understanding of
> > >> what they are using. For example the majority of bosses
> and managers
> > >> that I have had would have used MS excel only for making
> tables, which a
> > >> spreadsheet is not very good at.compared to the table
> functions in most
> > >> word processors. That is what the see the spreadsheet is
> good for.
> > >> When talking about an office suite, I think something that
> would say
> > >> "Hey OpenSource Software can do everything MS Office can
> do and it's
> > >> easy to learn how" would be what is needed. I think the
> biggest barrier
> > >> to implementing a new system is the fact that people don't
> like change,
> > >> they don't want to have to learn a new system. When I
> first bought a
> > >> Mac I was so excited about it, I thought the way it worked
> was really
> > >> cool, and the fact that it never crashed was fantastic, so
> I went around
> > >> all my friends and family preaching the virtues of iMacs
> and OSX, but
> > >> whenever they tried using my computer, it always came back
> to 'it
> > >> doesn't work the same as windows', 'I can't use the same
> shortcuts as in
> > >> windows', etc. And in the end not one of them converted,
> they all
> > >> appreciated the fact that things ran smother on the Mac
> but were
> > >> prepared to keep putting up with random crashes and
> program freezes
> > >> rather than have to learn a new system. And I think this
> is one of the
> > >> major hurdles for getting business to adopt open sourced
> software, they
> > >> would rather put up with the same bugs in their current
> software than
> > >> have to learn something new.
> > >> Woops sorry about all the exposition, but I think when
> trying to promote
> > >> the use of Free Software in a business situation, the
> emphasis should be
> > >> on how smooth the transition can be and how easy it is to
> learn the new
> > >> software.
> > >>
> > >> Cheers,
> > >>
> > >> John
> > >>
> > >>> This reminds me that a few years ago I tried to pull
> together a book about the value of open source software and open
> formats (two different but related issues) for government. At first I
> thought I would propose it at O'Reilly, but we decided we couldn't
> sell enough copies to make money, so I tried to organize it as a
> collaborative project covering multiple continents (sound familiar?).
> That didn't work.
> > >>>
> > >>> It was an advocacy book, not a how-to book, but the goal
> was similar: to persuade frightened office managers to make the
> migration.
> > >>>
> > >>> Andy
> > >>>
> > >>> ----- Original Message -----
> > >>> From: "John & Melonie Curwood"
> <marketing at lovinglearning.co.nz>
> > >>> To: discuss at lists.flossmanuals.net
> > >>> Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 9:36:18 PM GMT -05:00
> US/Canada Eastern
> > >>> Subject: Re: [FM Discuss] Beyond manuals
> > >>>
> > >>> With regards to an OpenOffice manual, maybe create a
> doing stuff with
> > >>> free software manual about running a small business or
> something which
> > >>> would include Openoffice, something like mozilla
> thunderbird/sunbird or
> > >>> evolution for email/organising and something like gnucash
> or better (I'm
> > >>> not familiar with OpenSource Accounting packages) for
> doing the accounts.
> > >>>
> > >>> I know it is not as exciting as say the digital
> foundations book, but it
> > >>> could have quite a wide audience.
> > >>>
> > >>> As some one said earler it would take more that a sprint
> to put and
> > >>> Openoffice manual together, more like a marathon, or in
> this case maybe
> > >>> a triathlon. :)
> > >>>
> > >>> Cheers,
> > >>>
> > >>> John
> > >>> _______________________________________________
> > >>> Discuss mailing list
> > >>> Discuss at lists.flossmanuals.net
> > >>>
> http://lists.flossmanuals.net/listinfo.cgi/discuss-flossmanuals.net
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >> _______________________________________________
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> --
> Adam Hyde
> Founder FLOSS Manuals
> German mobile : + 49 15 2230 54563
> Email : adam at flossmanuals.net
> irc: irc.freenode.net #flossmanuals
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