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

[Glen Turner]

On Tue, 2007-12-18 at 05:21 +1030, David Newall wrote:

> Bret is absolutely correct.  In my view, there is no substantive 
> difference between AUUG and Linux Australia.

This week we have had a vivid illustration of the difference.

Apple -- a UNIX vendor -- and the Linux community fundamentally
disagree over the desirability of FOSS codecs in the HTML5
standard.

I think we want to embrace the past of AUUG without embracing
on-going lobbying on behalf of commercial interests (who are
more than capable of doing that for themselves).

The suggestion that seems to fly for both sides is:

 - AUUG membership to be offered LA membership.
 - LA to host AUUG's online history -- web site, mail archive.
 - LA to acquire AUUG history ("acquire" in the library sense,
   so funding for a oral history of UNIX in Australia, promote
   loan of photos for scanning, etc) 
 - UNSW Library to be asked to host AUUG's documents (full
   set of conference proceedings, etc) and the results of
   LA's acquisition programme.
 - Funds remaining after windup of AUUG to go to UNSW Lions Chair.

IMHO LA should also make a recognition of the importance of AUUG
and UNIX in the development of Linux. I suggest a "Grey Beard" 
lecture to be made a part of the l.c.a programme, but I'm sure
other people have better ideas.