[Linux-aus] Organizing an Australian Open Source Roadshow?

[lloy0076 at adam.com.au]

Jeff et al,

> > Just what we need - *another* organisation in the FOSS space in
> Australia
> > trying to be the voice to the outside world! :-(
> >
> > "You are in a maze of twisty organisations, all alike".

No, the organisations are not all alike.
 
> Mmmm. I really hope that such a group would be part of, or at the
> very least, strongly affiliated with Linux Australia. Rather than >
bein gentirely separate, it could simply be another face of the same
> organisation (and a thriving part of the general community that
> Linux
> Australia represents).

I disagree and so did most of the business members who attended the 
meeting OSBN-SA, OSV and SLPWA held. The reasons were primarily because 
 Open Source Industry Australia [for want of a better name] has
decidedly different goals to Linux Australia and the AUUG. One of those
goals are to speak "business talk" to government and to big business
and to present the case for Linux in a different way than LA, the LUGs
and The AUUG do.

We felt that a strongly affiliated organisation, affiliated with:

 * ACS
 * Linux Australia
 * The AUUG

..was an effective way to carry these goals out. Note that I'm not
advocating that OSIA does *not* work with the other groups - I'm just
delineating the roles it has.

LA and The AUUG cater to their users very well and The AUUG is starting
to get better at talking government to government. Much kudos to them.
I'm sure that LA will start being noticed as its profile and the good
work that the committee and we all do for it.

But LA at the moment wants to run a technical, small conference rather
than a marketing, sales conference. I hate to say this but a lot of
technical people are not good marketing people which is probably a good
thing - if they kept on getting hijacked by markting stuff they'd have
no time to do the excellent development work they actually do :-)
 
> A largely independent sub-committee of Linux Australia would be an
> excellent venue for this.

Sub-committees are never totally independent of the main committees they
work for (trust me on this one, I've been around the traps in community
organisations for many, many years). For example, let's say that Linux
Australia needs to make a decision based on the premise "That mutt is a
better e-mail reader than sylpheed".

Hazarding a guess, the technical community will vote in the affirmative
and the business community and the government will vote in the
negative.

SO, Linux Australia (user group division) votes yes and Linux Australia
(business division) votes no. And the Government and anyone listening
thinks that LA has two heads. (oh, and I've seen *this* happen too).

DSL


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