"At first glance, the story of the Tux500 project doesn't look too unusual. A couple of devoted Linux advocates were looking for a cool way to promote the operating system they love. Advertising on a race car is a great way to get open source noticed, says Ken 'helios' Starks, one of the men working to raise enough money to enter a Linux-sponsored car in the 2007 Indianapolis 500 race. It's the kind of grass-roots effort for which the open source community is known: grab a domain name, put up a site, and submit the link to Digg. But Starks and IT consultant Bob Moore, the organizers of the Tux500 effort, added an extra step that is raising some eyebrows in the community: they opened a PayPal account and are asking Linux fans for more than a quarter of a million dollars.
"If that seems outrageous, well, Ken Starks is no stranger to Texas-sized dreams. Reading his blog is like listening to a fiery Sunday sermon about the evils of imbibing in proprietary software. The thought that he might be preaching to the choir never occurs to Starks, or if it does, it certainly never deters him..."
[Editor's Note: As full disclosure, it should be noted that I am acting as an volunteer independent auditor for this fundraising project. This is being done as a personal project, and does not imply endorsement of this project by Linux Today or Jupitermedia. -Brian Proffitt.]
