Hi Mike, There is a Detroit Linux User's Group that you might look to hook up with if you haven't already. <a href="http://mdlug.org">http://mdlug.org</a> I'm not a member (or in Detroit) but I know someone who is. Mike <div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 6:38 PM, Michael Naughton <<a href="mailto:michnaugh1@gmail.com">michnaugh1@gmail.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> Hi all: My name is Mike Naughton. I'm a criminal defense attorney (associate at James C. Thomas, P.C.) from Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. I first tried Linux when I installed Fedora Core 3. I am running Fedora 10 x64 and it feels very sharp and responsive. As far as how I can contribute, in my role as a criminal defense attorney I have a lot of experience with advocacy, community outreach and working with media. In fact, I have been involved in cases in the Detroit area that garnered national and local media attention. My participation required working with attorneys around the country and media outlets. If you google my name you will see Michigan Supreme Court and Michigan Court of Appeals briefs I wrote over the summer and for what case. I think Fedora and Red Hat have really done a terrific job of creating a more vibrant community and putting together some really nice resources online (<a href="http://fedoraproject.org" target="_blank">fedoraproject.org</a>, <a href="http://fedoraforum.org" target="_blank">fedoraforum.org</a>, <a href="http://fedorafaq.org" target="_blank">fedorafaq.org</a>, etc.). I would like to be more involved in this community. I believe that, for better or worse, the economy and Vista have really created an opportunity for people to discover Fedora and be very pleasantly surprised. I would really like to get more involved in marketing Fedora, especially to professionals like myself who are solo-practitioners or small business owners. Fedora really provides all the tools necessary for a person to build a business right out of the box. In fact, I have been using Linux in my practice. I use Openoffice.org to prepare correspondence, motions, orders and other forms of legal writing. I use Thunderbird with the Lightning plugin to keep track of my calendar. I listen to music with Rhythmbox, mount NTFS drives, play games (World of Goo is really incredible and a great example of the traction Linux is starting to gain) and run the occasional Windows app in Crossover Office. Admittedly, I would like to see more billable programs for Linux. I have tried Gnu Cash but I find it a bit cumbersome for simple time tracking and invoicing. Additionally (like a lot of other people), I'd like to able to use Adobe programs in Linux. Obviously this is not a Fedora gripe but an Adobe one. I am confident that as Linux desktop adoption grows, Adobe will reach out to this market and provide products. It already has with Flash and Acrobat. I am also a part-time web developer and use Flash, Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Illustrator. It would be nice to not have to boot into OS X use these tools. Thanks for reading. I am really excited about joining the marketing team and making some contributions to the community. --Mike -- Fedora-marketing-list mailing list <a href="mailto:Fedora-marketing-list@redhat.com" target="_blank">Fedora-marketing-list@redhat.com</a> <a href="https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-marketing-list" target="_blank">https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-marketing-list</a> </blockquote></div>