Request for Comments

[James Knott]

cbbrowne-HInyCGIudOg at public.gmane.org wrote:
>>No, this is not an RFC :)
>>
>>I've received an email from a club member in my capacity as talks
>>coordinator.  I could not answer the person's query so I'm putting it
>>to the list...
>>
>>The member is active on the TLUG list and has presented in front of
>>the club before on technical topics.  The person wishes to do a talk
>>on a product that their company has produced in house.
>>
>>The product runs on Linux but is not currently GPL (although it may
>>become so in the future).  I think the person does not want the talk
>>to come across as a sales pitch.
>>
>>So the question is - is it ok for a person to make a presentation to
>>TLUG on a commercial product that their company produces?
>>
>>I now open the floor for debate...
> 
> 
> Well, to the degree to which the presentation represents "sales pitch,"
> it is likely to go fairly badly.
> 
> LUGs are generally composed of groups of enthusiasts, and in the role in
> which they come to meetings, they're not usually looking to be "sold
> at."  On occasions where I have seen 'sales teams' come in to LUG
> meetings, it has generally _not_ gone well.  People realize quite
> quickly that they're not interested in buying product, and get rather
> restless.
> 
> If there are technical aspects of the product that would make for an
> interesting talk, even for people that don't plan to buy it, then a talk
> can go quite well.  That's in the power of the speaker, happily.

I suppose a useful comparison, would be some of the articles in the 
Linux Journal, where they describe how & why Linux was used in a 
commercial product.

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