Maricopa Meeting

[Robert Bushman]

It would be great to talk with TV5 about the Phoenix
Linux User Group, our interest in exposing more people
to Linux, and the ways we support new users in the
community.

I'd be a bit concerned about the spin of the story:

1. DOOM:
   Is Maricopa County evil and wasting taxpayer dollars?

   This doesn't help anyone. Lin and his team are doing
   what they think is best for the citizens of the county.

2. Saccharin:
   Look at the well intentioned idealists tilting at
   windmills. Aren't they sweet?

   This could work very well for us, as long as we don't
   come out looking like simple-minded penguin huggers. We
   could mention Install Fest, our user support mailing
   lists, and our work with schools like Sequoia.

Of course we should talk to Morgan regardless of whether
we decide to do the story. It is good to show that we
appreciate his interest.

What do you think? Can I contact him with the above
message?

Bob

On Mon, 8 Jul 2002, RJV wrote:

> Greetings.
>
> I'm a newbie to the list, but I live here in Phoenix and have followed the
> events concerning Maricopa County and the Microsoft Antitrust suit from
> a distance.
>
> I was unable to attend the meeting this AM, as I work.  However, I did
> attempt to get Morgan Loew, of TV5 KPHO to attend the meeting.  I'm a good
> friend of his, and the email I sent to him (through the TV's website) can
> be found here: (Please don't link this on Slashdot.  Thx)
> http://www.procyon.com/~usacom/Antitrust-Maricopa.txt
>
> I spoke to him today in person, as I was interested in hearing the events
> of the meeting from a third party, but he was unable to attend.  However,
> Morgan did speak to Paul Allsing today on the phone and is still
> interested in gathering more information, with the possibility that it
> would become a story on KPHO (TV 5 - CBS).  However, in order to do this,
> he will need to interview someone from PLUG.
>
> He asked that I contact you and direct you to email him at
> kphoinv@kphotv5.com - which is the investigative team's[1] email address.
>
> He's interested, and I'm available to help answer questions from you and
> from him.  Being that this is a large news network, finding monetary
> values of what the Maricopa Microsoft site license is would be very
> useful, especially if a majority of the software used has a
> non-proprietary free alternative.
>
> Regards,
>   R. Jason Valentine
>
> [1] http://www.kpho.com/Global/story.asp?S=258687&nav=23Kt3HOD - the 5
> Investigates link
>
> ________________________________________________
> See http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/navigator-mail.shtml if your mail doesn't post to the list quickly and you use Netscape to write mail.
>
> PLUG-discuss mailing list  -  PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>

--------------------------------------------------------------------
 "We need commonsense judges who understand that our rights were
 derived from God. Those are the kind of judges I intend to put on
 the bench." President George W. Bush, 27 June 2002
 http://www.nando.net/politics/story/453192p-3627921c.html

 "no religious Test shall ever be required" Constitution Article 6
 http://www.law.emory.edu/FEDERAL/usconst/art-6.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------