The thing about suits is that they are suffocating. Whether you are wearing one or in close proximity to a number of them, they tend to "cut off the air supply." The smell of money was so strong at the most recent LinuxWorld Conference & Expo that the stench of suits was still with me nearly a week later. It seemed like all the attendees at the show, from Michael Dell to the booth barkers, were inviting me to look at, try, or buy their wares -- or simply to sign up to be spammed with the same offers later. Were they dressed in suits? Well, strictly speaking, no. For the most part, they were in stealth suits: expensive polos, pressed slacks, and polished shoes.
Last Thursday, I could still feel suit crawling up over my shoulders like an evil monkey. I needed a break. Money is important, and I like filthy lucre as much as the next person. But there is more to life and Linux than IPOs, fancy cars with vanity plates, and online trading. I needed a fix. I needed raw, unabashed, unapologetic, geek culture. I needed an Austin LUG meeting.
So I made my way to the offices of Emperor Systems, gracious host of our weekly gathering of geeks. One table was covered with swag brought back from the show, another with snacks and drinks. Stu Green was doing his level best to steer the meeting into some form of order. There was laughter and joking. Stu threatened to award an AOL CD to anyone who misbehaved by mentioning Microsoft or AOL. When one of the group's most senior members replied that he had seen something about a Linux version of the AOL client online, Stu walked over to him and handed him the CD. "You must leave the island immediately," I solemnly intoned. The room laughed loudly. I was home. I could feel the dark side releasing its grip on my soul.
Home at last
We're talking dweebs, mister. And dweebettes. They weren't dressed in suits or polos; most were in t-shirts and jeans, or t-shirts and shorts. Business casual was most definitely not the rule. If there was a rule, it was "come as you are" comfortable. There were newbies and gurus, a typical mix. Some were busy writing their own distributions with a security/firewall focus; some were still looking to see "how can I make a million out of this thing." Most were simply interested in finding the latest cool stuff, and figuring out where they could get it. For others it was, "How can I share this cool stuff with others?" That last group is where Ms. F. Gress (aka Ms. G), the Capitol Area Training Foundation (CATF), the Community Technology and Training Center (CTTC), and Dr. Phil Carinhas fit in. And that is also what brought the Austin Linux Group (ALG) into alignment with them.
According to the Austin Chamber of Commerce Website, the CATF was organized in 1994. But the only CATF history that I'm interested in started a year and a half ago, when it began to work in partnership with the CTTC to provide adult computer education at a South Austin high school. As Ms. G said to us after Stu introduced her, don't let the association with the Chamber of Commerce scare you off.
The CATF/CTTC is all about creating digital opportunities in Austin for those who wouldn't otherwise have them. According to the literature that Ms. G handed out, "Even though Austin's economy is soaring with new high-tech developments, a significant number of residents are only getting farther behind. People who cannot afford access to computers and the Internet are not able to take advantage of modern business tools such as word processing and email. People who lack fundamental 'technology literacy' cannot even take advantage of free computers in public places." Technology literacy? Ah, my dweebs, now she was speaking my language.
But Ms. G and crew are doing more than speaking. They are teaching. Travis High School provides the rooms, the computers, and the network. Volunteers do the teaching. Last year they offered a range of classes from introductory (using a keyboard and mouse), to Web authoring, networking, and programming. More than 500 individuals took advantage of that training last year. Just as you might suspect, however, all of that training was Windows based. And as you have no doubt shrewdly puzzled out, that part of the picture is about to change.
Dr. Phil belongs to the ALG. He owns a firm, Fortuitous Technologies, that provides Linux training here in Austin. It is primarily as a result of his efforts over the past few months that Ms. G and the CATF/CTTC partnership are now adding Linux to their core curriculum. Dr. Phil is making part of his training material available for use for this purpose. Together, Dr. Phil and Ms. G were trolling for volunteers to teach the Linux classes two nights a week this fall. The Linux track will be offered initially as an advanced topic, and will cover system administration and networking.
How effective can a bunch of volunteer do-gooders be? Well, I'm impressed with some of the numbers. Last year 190 unemployed workers took advantage of the training and 45 of those got jobs as a result. Of those who were already employed and were seeking job advancement, 36 out of 235 accomplished that goal. Overall, 18 percent of the 563 clients obtained the results they were seeking, whether that came in the form of employment, career advancement, or furthering their education.
I can hear some people asking, "Why Linux? Why not just add more Windows classes?" Those are not bad questions, and I think I have good answers. For one thing, the Linux boom has created a shortage of Linux admins, and as adoption grows, so will that shortage. For another, those learning Linux will learn more about computers and networking than those learning Windows. Windows is all about making the hard stuff invisible. Linux is all about making the hard stuff understandable.
Divided city
But there is another reason. Although color lines in Austin are not as clearly drawn as they once were, they still remain. Interstate Highway 35 separates predominantly black East Austin from the rest of the city. Looking at the traffic flows connecting East and West Austin in the downtown area, it appears to me as if there have been deliberate attempts to make it difficult to move from east to west.
Take 7th Street, for example. You can't simply drive straight under IH-35. You first have to make a right turn onto the northbound access road, then turn left to go underneath the interstate, then left again on the southbound access road, which runs alongside the Austin police department headquarters and the city jail. It is as if the police department and jail were set there both as a warning and for the protection of the rest of the city. Once past that block, you can turn right on 6th street to get to the heart of the city.
Town Lake is the not only the dividing line between North and South Austin, but between the bubbas and hippies of South Austin and the yuppies of North Austin. It's also the line between much of the city's Hispanic population and the rich Anglo strongholds of West and Northwest Austin. It is not by mistake that the first campus chosen by CATF/CTTC is in South Austin, adjacent to IH-35. Nor is it by a fluke that the planned second campus will be in Northeast Austin. These are the areas where the service provided -- free computer training for all comers -- is most needed.
The roots of Linux
Linus wrote Linux because there was no free or even affordable version of Unix out there for the PC platform. He GPL'd it so that students and others who came after him would be able to find and use a free operating system. This is what Linux and all free software is about: not the smell of money, but the improvement of community. Teaching Linux (GNU/Linux, if you prefer) in these classes is exactly the right thing to do.
But let me warn you about something. Don't bring a holier-than-thou attitude about suits and money and the commercialization of Linux to a meeting like last week's Austin LUG unless you are prepared to get off your duff and do something more than just talk. I give you this advice because I now find myself one of the ten volunteers that the wily Ms. G and Dr. Phil signed up that night. I'll be reporting more about the successes and failures of this grassroots Linux adult education program as the school year goes on, and I would really appreciate hearing from others involved in similar efforts.
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