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<title>The Great Linux Revolt of 1998 LG #31</title>
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<H4>
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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</H4>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<font color="navy">A <I>Linux Journal</I> Preview</font>:
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This article will appear in the October issue of <I>Linux Journal</I>.
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<center>
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<H1><font color="maroon">The Great Linux Revolt of 1998</font></H1>
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<H4>By <a href="mailto:chris@dibona.com">Chris Dibona</a></H4>
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<A HREF="./photos1.html">Photo Album</A>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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Sam Ockman's notice hit Slashdot (http://www.slashdot.org/) at 6:21PM,
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it read:
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<p>
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<blockquote>
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The 500 members of SVLUG are going to have a big rally
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tonight at the largest/most prestigious computer store in Silicon Valley,
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Fry's, when they stay open until 1AM to distribute Windows 98.
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We're going to hand out Linux CDs and stuff like that as well.
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We'd like to have more people at the rally then go to buy Windows 98.
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<p>
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</blockquote>
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While it was obvious that the entire membership of the LUG was not
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planning on showing up for a midnight rally, it was clear that this was an
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idea with great potential. A little after 10PM, Sam and I arrived at the Chili's
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restaurant near the rally site to meet with people beforehand. We were
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hopeful that we were not going to be alone at the table.
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<p>
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We were not disappointed. There were about 15 people waiting for Sam to
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arrive. Some we recognized from the SVLUG, and some that had seen the
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notice on Slashdot. Remember only four hours had gone by since the original
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posting. By the time we left, the crowd had grown to 25 people.
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<p>
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After consuming some munchies and a stout or two, we headed out for Fry's
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electronics in Sunnyvale. For those of you who aren't familiar with Fry's,
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they are a warehouse-sized electronics, software, hardware, test
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equipment, junk food, books and magazine retailer out here on the west
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coast. Picture Price-Costco except with resistors. Most people have a love
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hate relationship with Fry's, mainly for customer service issues. It's
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important to note that this rally was not a protest against Fry's, but a rally
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for Linux on MS Windows 98's birthday.
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<p>
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We arrived at the Fry's around 11:30PM. The 500 compact discs hadn't arrived
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from the generous folks from S.u.S.E. yet, and we were a little nervous
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they would be late. At Fry's our numbers had doubled to a little over 50
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people. By now, our signs had been pulled out and we were actively
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agitating for Linux. This was a peaceful gathering, we made a point of not
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being too annoying and staying out of the way of cars.
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<p>
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The CDs arrived around midnight, coinciding with the beginning of the
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sale of the Windows 98 CDs. We started handing them out along with pamphlets
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designed by Adam Richter (of Yggdrasil) to people who were coming into and
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out of Fry's. At this point we had two reporters show up to document the
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event (see links below).
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<p>
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Also, at this point we started noticing worried looking guys with
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walkie-talkies watching us from the parking lot, and some Fry's managerial
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types talking into their cell phones. One of the protestors overheard one
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of their managers call the police, and then frustratedly say to another
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Fry's guy, ``Why can't we just go over there and rip those
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signs out of their geek hands?'' When we heard that, we were taken
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aback, but it did consolidate our desire to continue.
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<p>
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A few minutes later the Sunnyvale police began to arrive in numbers. Four
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police cars pulled forward into the lot. I offered myself up as their
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contact, while Sam controlled the Linux people.
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<p>
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The police officer asked us what we were doing there, I described Linux
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and how we were trying to get the word out about it. The police officer
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was cool about it, telling me that we'd have to wait for his Lieutenant to
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arrive to find out what to do. We were on Fry's private property,
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their parking lot. It turns out there are certain situations
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where it's okay to protest on someone's private property. It's pretty
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much always okay to protest on the sidewalk. We had been expecting to be
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asked to move to the sidewalk eventually.
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<p>
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Before his Lieutenant arrived, one of the other police officers asked more
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about Linux, the word is one of the Linux people got a CD into his hands
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on his way out of the lot. He did say, ``Hey, good luck with your
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system'' to me.
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<p>
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Additionally, the manager of Fry's came up to me (the same one that wanted
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to rip the signs out of our ``geek hands'') and asked me why I was
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doing this, as Fry's sold Linux in their book section. I pointed out that we
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knew this and indeed had a sign showing people which aisle to go to for the
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book. He
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then asked why I had not had the Linux marketing people or my (as if I'm
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in charge of Linux!) vendor relations people, contact Fry's management to
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arrange a similar event to the Windows 98 launch. Needless to say I was
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like a deer in the headlights, I told him that, in fact, Linux was a free
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operating system, and that this was one way we saw to market it (not to
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mention the fact that no company could match a MS launch when it comes
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down to the checkbook).
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<p>
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He was visibly upset, so I thought it was best to stop talking with him at
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this point. I told him any further communication between us would
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come to no good end, and we should only talk through the police. (His
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brains were melting out his ears at this point.)
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<p>
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The Lieutenant arrived and said we should move to the sidewalk, so we did,
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and it was just as cool, cars were actually pulling over and picking up a
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copy of the Linux CD.
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<p>
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After about 15 minutes of this, we decided to hit the CompUSA, a few
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miles away. When we arrived, there were still a lot of people in line
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there. It turns out CompUSA was not only promoting Windows 98, but they
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were also doing all kinds of things to bring people into the store. They
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were selling the first 10 people in line computers for $98, and paying
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people $4 to take away 32MB of RAM. (Actually, the RAM was $32, but there
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was a $38 rebate--or something like that, it was weird.) This also
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meant that there were a lot of people to promote Linux to. CompUSA's
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management were cool, they just took the rally in stride, telling Sam
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the rally was okay, as that was what the first amendment was all about.
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Fry's had sent one of their security drones to CompUSA to warn them of our
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existence, but CompUSA just let us do our thing.
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<p>
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After CompUSA petered out, we converged on a local Denny's to nosh.
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Denny's flipped when they saw all the people, so we moved to a braver
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restaurant down the street. I got home around 3AM to find
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people were already uploading pictures to the web.
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<p>
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By the end of the night we had given out 500 CDs, and
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hundreds of pamphlets. A total of six press people showed up and there
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were over a half-dozen mentions in major newspapers. This is not counting
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the coverage we received from other on-line sources such as CNN and the
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BBC. Everyone involved had a rocking good time promoting Linux.
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<p>
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Whether or not you agree with this direct action model of Linux marketing, we
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feel confident that we passed the Linux Message to many thousands of
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people who otherwise had no real knowledge about the Linux revolution.
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Viva El Revolution!
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<h3>Resources</h3>
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<p>
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SVLUG: <A HREF="http://www.svlug.org/">http://www.svlug.org/</A> <BR>
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SVLUG Rally: <A HREF="http://www.penguincomputing.com/svlug-rally.html">
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http://www.penguincomputing.com/svlug-rally.html</A> <BR>
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Slashdot: <A HREF="http://www.slashdot.org/">http://www.slashdot.org/</A>
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<BR>
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SuSE: <A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">http://www.suse.com/</A> <BR>
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<center><H5>Copyright © 1998, Chris DiBona <BR>
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Published in Issue 31 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, August 1998</H5></center>
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