[Linux-aus] AUUG to close? Will there be a rush of new members to Linux Australia?

[Jonathan Oxer]

Hi folks,

Last week I attended the AUUG AGM as an observer. Firstly, thanks to the
AUUG folk for making me welcome: Adrian Close, Andrew Chalmers, David
Purdue, Suzie, Peter, Eno, and Grahame (sorry, I don't know all the
surnames). They were very friendly and hospitable.

Obviously the major topic of discussion was whether the organisation
could continue, and if so, in what form. The problem they're facing is
decreasing participation and membership, so they're re-assessing the
relevance of the organisation in the context of the current IT landscape
and the growth of organisations with overlapping areas of interest such
as LA. Questions such as what activities the organisation should / could
undertake in future were raised and discussed.

Overall the attitude of the members present was quite positive, and
although there was general agreement that the organisation could not
continue in its current form they were upbeat about finding some
alternate way forward. Nevertheless they passed a resolution to
distribute a ballot to all financial members to put the question of
whether the organisation should be wound up and its assets passed on to
an appropriate beneficiary. That process will obviously take some time
so we'll just have to wait and see what the outcome is.

Another issue that was discussed was the possibility of passing on the
John Lions Student Prize to be administered by Linux Australia. Doing
that would be totally independent of whether AUUG itself is wound up,
since even if the organisation continues it's unlikely there will be an
opportunity for AUUG to award the Prize in future. It hasn't been
awarded since the 2002 AUUG conference and LCA would probably make a
better venue for it now anyway.

We didn't spend much time talking about the future of the Student Prize
and there's certainly nothing decided, but I expect that now the subject
has been raised there will be some kind of official LA/AUUG discussion
about whether it's appropriate to move it under LA's control.
Unfortunately we're probably too close to LCA2008 to award it there,
although it would certainly be nice if we could arrange it that quickly.
I think it's quite likely that it will be part of LCA2009 though.

http://www.auug.org.au/awards/lions/

Cheers   :-)
--
Jonathan Oxer
+61 3 9723 9399