[Linux-aus] Linux Australia's interests and audience

[Jonathon Coombes]

On 18/12/2007, at 2:41 PM, Jeff Waugh wrote:

> <quote who="Bret Busby">
>
>> Okay, this then gives rise to the question of what Linux  
>> Australia, is
>> really about, and, whose interests it serves.
>
> You're doing your usual trick of assuming the worst and writing  
> annoyingly
> long and repetitive emails.
>
> What Linux Australia is about, and who it serves, is pretty clear  
> from its
> charter: http://www.linux.org.au/About/Charter
>
> It's pretty clear that proprietary software doesn't fit in with  
> that. It's
> pretty clear that FLOSS in general does fit in with that. But there  
> are a
> few Linuxisms left that do not truly summarise what Linux Australia  
> has and
> will continue to represent (as a matter of culture and behaviour)  
> -- the
> Australian FLOSS community.
>
> That's why there needs to be a change of name, but please don't  
> make such
> nasty assumptions about the organisation's intentions, particularly  
> when
> actions demonstrate otherwise.

Hi,

I don't want to make the situation worse, but I think after checking  
the link above, there may be some misconceptions about what LA stands  
for unless I am mistaken. Looking at the link on the LA website, the  
first entry is the "Vision" that LA have and that is "To facilitate  
enthusiasms within the Linux Community to flourish". The rest of the  
text goes on to try and explain this, but it is all in the context of  
"the community" which is obviously the Linux community as that is  
what is referred to in the vision.

This would be leading to confusion (even leaving proprietary systems  
aside) for groups such as:

1. FreeBSD users
2. Perl/PHP/Python etc programmers who use only MS Windows for  
development and deployment
3. OpenSolaris users
etc.

I am sure  you get my point, and I am certain that many people within  
LA would have no issue with these groups and have promoted them in  
the past. However, the issue is now of clarification - the name and  
context on the website all points to a Linux-only type group. This  
can be solved quite easily by changing the wording on the website,  
and that may help clear up much of the confusion.

Regards
Jonathon

--------------------------
Jonathon Coombes
OOo Knowledgebase:-  http://mindmeld.cybersite.com.au
http://www.cybersite.com.au