Participating Organizations - Lindependence 2008
Firefox? Thunderbird? XMMS? The Gimp? Members of these communities and all application communities are encouraged to make a presence here. Contact Larry Cafiero or Ken Starks if you want your group to participate in Felton.
Codeweavers, Inc.
Jon Parshall in conjunction with the rest of the Great Leadership Triad at Codeweavers has graciously offered to be a generous sponsor of Lindependence 2008. Not only are they lending their assets, they are presenting participants in Lindependence free subscriptions to this fine product. These guys not only produce one of the coolest pieces of software code in existence, they know how to have fun doing it. Their presence at Lindependence 2008 will insure a smooth transition to Linux for the folks that make the switch. Thanks, Codeweavers! You guys rock.
Tux Project / HeliOS Solutions
HeliOS Solutions and HeliOS Solutions West --- Larry Cafiero and Ken Starks, being a couple of the original founders of Tuxproject.com, got an idea. Then again, that is why Landy DeField worked his tail off to produce and maintain the site...to foster and build upon ideas that help in the proliferation of Linux. These two expanded on a marketing idea posted at Tux Project and after some discussion, ran with it. What if an entire town could fire Microsoft for a period of time and put Linux on their computers? What if the people and logistics were in place to physically support them in doing so? With substantial leg work by Larry and Ken tirelessly haranguing the Linux Community, the project slowly built momentum. The weeks and months of effort have paid off. With distributions and Open Source companies taking part, the contributions and efforts of HeliOS Solutions will make Lindependence 2008 the largest effort of it's kind to date.
A word about Tuxproject.com. Landy DeField started the website because the FOSS "community" needed a clearinghouse for ideas and plans to market FOSS and GNU/Linux. The internet is a huge place and while there are some great efforts out there, getting them pulled together is a trick. Creativity begets creativity and with all the ideas flowing in and out of Tuxproject.com, there are bound to be some ingenious and "do-able" things. Thus was born the idea for Lindependence 2008. We want to personally thank Landy, Janet and all the others who put their sweat, personal finances and time into making Tuxproject what it is...a fertile, friendly place where we can make Linux grow. Thanks Landy.
Oh, and while we're on the subject, HeliOS Solutions in Austin, Texas, and HeliOS Solutions West in Felton, California, serve their communities in Linux conversion, upgrades and maintenance and their site can be found here.
OpenOffice
We all know what OpenOffice is...not many of us know who they are. OpenOffice has notified us that they will be happy to represent themselves on one level or another at Lindepndence 2008 in Felton. We think this is cool for many reasons but mostly because while Linux may be what everyone thinks about when they think "Open Source"...more people have been drawn to Open Source via OpenOffice than any other application (however Firefox is catching up fast.) CEO's all over the world are discovering that they can have 97 percent of Microsoft Office functionality with Zero of the cost. Have you priced the latest, greatest MS Office lately? We are finding that "zero cost" is a powerful incentive to give MS the boot. Especially when the functionality is there and you don't have to listen to some wimpy little paper clip complain that you don't seem to know what you are doing.
The Linux Link Tech Show
These guys have been absolutely stellar in their support of Lindependence 2008. They have went out of their way to make sure that their listeners know about the program and our need for funding. This project has been more expensive than any of us imagined...but we've continued with it because it represents a huge opportunity to market Linux to the general computing public. While donations have been meager and disappointing to be honest, this project will go forward regardless. Larry and Ken have decided that they will pay for it out of their pockets and have done just that to this point....Larry especially. TLLTS has helped lessen their burden by their support and community announcements. Heartfelt thanks to all the guys that make up this excellent show.
Zareason is one of the first and in our opinion, the best Linux-based hardware vendor in existence. Earl and Cathy Malmrose literally put their money and their efforts where their mouths were and created an open source business model where they build and sell Linux computers. With all the media coverage over Dell offering Linux, "ZA" went about their business of selling their superior product. While the software engineers and techies at Dell seemed to struggle at making Ubuntu work on their Dell machines, Zareason already had it down to a science and without any of the glitches that Dell shipped with their early LInux offerings. We are proud to accept the help and support of Zareason for Lindependence 2008. These guys rock.
Sustain Computing
Our sincere thanks to Sustain Computing for their participation and sponsorship of Lindependence 2008. Sustain computing realizes the importance of Linux AND the environmental responsibility we all have in using, maintaining and disposing of our machines. Join us in welcoming this fantastic startup to the FOSS family and our efforts therein.
Sustain Computing offers computers that are friendly to our planet and the people on it. Our eye-catching systems feature Linux and open source software, power savings, recycling options, low toxicity components, and overall lower total cost of ownership. We're the premier vertically sustainable computer company, based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
