(LinuxWorld) -- I've learned more about Linux in the three years I've been writing about it than in the previous three years when I simply used it. It's not just because of the research, reading, and experimentation I've done preparing stories. It's feedback from readers that has been the most instructive. I shouldn't have been surprised to learn that the same dynamics apply when giving a talk about Linux.

I'm not by any stretch of the imagination a part of the Linux speaker circuit, but I did get my turn behind a pulpit at a recent ITEC computer show in Austin. A last-minute cancellation by a scheduled speaker resulted in me being asked to speak for an hour on the topic of "Why your business should migrate to Linux." In a moment of weakness, I accepted.

I tried not to take it too seriously. I like to make people laugh and thought humor would be a good approach. My first outline consisted of a Letterman-like Top 10 list. Among the items on the list were things like Code Red, Nimda, and Windows XP. I had fun developing it, but after a few hours I began to rethink this approach.

I wanted to keep the number of points I made to a minimum. I wanted anyone attending to be able to remember why I thought they should be using Linux. After giving the question more serious thought, I came up with a list of three reasons. A business should migrate to Linux because Linux offers:

1. Better software
2. Higher value
3. Freedom

To support those points, I sketched three topics for discussion and tried to find a way to label them that the audience might remember. Even if they didn't remember each of the individual points I hoped to cover. The first topic was "bumblebees can fly." In it, I wanted to address and rebut the classic arguments given by traditional IT folk about why Linux will never be anything but a hacker/hobbyist operating system. I called the second segment "on the shoulders of giants." In it I wanted to explain how this seemingly impossible development occured. The final segment was simply to be "freedom."

I have a black belt in worrying, and I exercised those awesome skills early and often in the few days before the talk. I typed up an outline and added bullets under each section. It looked spotty. What if I only talked for 15 minutes out of the allocated hour? Worse, what if I got so nervous up there that the bullets didn't trigger the words I hoped to say?

I decided to type the talk up as if I was writing a story. I only got as far as the introduction. It was taking way too much time. In the end I kept the typed intro and used the outline for the rest. My thinking was that even if I had to read the intro that would at least give me a couple of minutes to loosen up and break the ice. Then I would be fine. According to close friends, family, and associates, I do have a certain fondness for the sound of my own voice. If I could just get past the initial jitters I should survive.

I also have a black belt in Microsoft bashing. I worried that if I engaged in it in this talk it would leave the audience with a negative impression. Out came all my references to Code Red, Nimda, Bill Gates, et al. Still, I worried. The night before the speech I had trouble sleeping. I began to try to think of plausible excuses for backing out.

You're on, kid

Finally, it was time. I got behind the podium and looked out over the room. It wasn't the vast cavern I had imagined, but rather a room the size of a classroom. The huge audience I had tortured myself with the night before actually numbered less than 20. Thankfully, they were a friendly bunch. I knew about half the audience through the local Linux User Group.

My first order of business was to identify those who were actually considering such a migration. I identified three people in the audience who were, and tried to focus on speaking to them. There was Steve, the CTO from a firm of about 50 people; Ron, an admin from a nearby university; and a trainer/consultant whose name escaped me.

I began to read the introduction, but soon found it more comfortable to look at the crowd than to read. My nervousness dissipated, and I was off. I launched into the "bumblebee" segment and spoke of how much Linux has changed since I first got involved with it. Today's Linux offers not only competing desktop environments, but also multiple choice solutions for an office suite. SMP support since the 2.4 kernel is vastly improved. Need a journaling file system? Pick from three available.

Questions came from the audience. Thankfully, answers came from there too. "I tried StarOffice but I am used to Mac and Windows and the fonts were ugly," said the university system admin. I pointed him towards the HowTo on LinuxPlanet.com, and someone on the back row explained how to configure StarOffice and X to share the same fonts.

I glanced at my watch and noted that the hour was half gone and I was only a third of the way through. I tried to speed up as I shifted into the talk about "standing on the shoulders of giants." The famous quote by Isaac Newton ("If I have seen farther than other men, it is only because I have stood on the shoulders of giants,") has been used to describe the phenomenon we call open source, and I think it is an excellent selection.

I used it to explain how a project begun as a terminal emulator for Minix by a single geek in Finland has become what Linux is today. A development process characterized by gradual, incremental, constant improvement and refinement over a period of years. Linux never had to start from square-one because all the work of those who came before is readily available to all. Like compound interest, constantly reinvesting in itself.

I talked about Richard Stallman, the Free Software Foundation, and the GPL. I explained how it was the one thing that makes a dominant free software operating system inevitable by guaranteeing that those shoulders will always be available. And how, when the world's next ubergeek kernel hacking genius begins her freshman year in high school, she will be able to start her operating system odyssey not from the meek and mild Minix terminal emulator from which Linux sprang in 1990, but rather from the fire-breathing multiprocessor monster that Linux is today.

With two minutes left, Steve asked from the audience if I thought Windows XP was a good reason to migrate to Linux. A perfect cue for me to launch my final spiel about freedom. I was out of time, and had only covered two-thirds of what I had intended.

A few of us continued to talk afterwards. Steve told me how he had tried XP and decided there was no way he was going to upgrade. He said he didn't know how much longer it would be before Microsoft would "expire" support for the version of Windows he runs today. His unhappiness with Microsoft was palpable. Steve's feedback convinced me that Stallman has it right when he says we should use free software for the freedom it provides, not just because it's better, or because it's more cost effective. The conversation with Steve made me realize I'd ordered the bullet points in my talk backwards. Just as readers have taught me the what of Linux for the past three years, this audience member told me the right reason why.

A word of advice: If you're called upon to give a similar talk someday, start with freedom. It's all about freedom. Don't leave it out of your talk or give it short shrift the way I did.