[Linux-aus] Council Meeting Minutes - 2011-02-03

[Silvia Pfeiffer]

On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 5:19 PM, Terry Dawson <tjd at animats.net> wrote:
> On 04-Feb-11 5:33 PM, Anthony Towns wrote:
>>
>> Actually, LA is more of an LCA event, than the other way around.
>> Without the efforts of LCA organisers, LA wouldn't have enough members
>> to form an executive. We know that's true, because that's the way it
>> used to be.
> Without wanting to drag up ancient history, I disagree. I've maintained
> a respectful silence about this period for a long time, because for me
> it represents a period of innocent naiivety and personal failure, but I
> don't think it reasonable to see that period re-interpreted.
>
> Membership numbers were very low between 1999 and 2001, but it wasn't
> because of a lack of an LCA. It was in fact because there wasn't a
> particularly well-defined or published membership process. LA had no
> trouble with quorum prior to CALU99, but we floundered around trying to
> work out how to work with the various LUGs before going on any sort of
> recruitment drive. It was my idea to stay small until we had the model
> right, even with retrospect I'm convinced that was the right thing to
> do. There was a climate of distrust with many LUGs opposing the idea of
> a national body, it was an exhausting slog for some time.
>
> Rusty approached us proposing a conference and we agreed to provide the
> legal entity to support it. It was exactly the sort of opportunity we
> were looking for. LA was hurriedly formally incorporated to support
> CALU-99. We established a bank account and public liability insurance.
>
> CALU-99 catalysed a lot of open discussion and interest about developing
> Linux Australia into the sort of organisation it is today, but many of
> us who'd been working on the idea by that time were disheartened and had
> run out of energy. A few of us kept LCA breathing for a year or two, the
> period to which you refer. At last fresh blood came into the
> organisation, they created LCA2001 and it actually took on the life it
> had aspired to. The symbiotic relationship between LA and LCA has grown
> ever since.
>
> There is no denying that LCA is by far the most important and successful
> activity of LA, and the enthusiasm, energy and commitment of the LCA
> teams each year are direct contributors to its ongoing success, but the
> primary role of LA remains distinct and necessarily seperate from LCA.
>
> There remain a number of activities completely unrelated to LCA that LA
> should be and are pursuing, albeit perhaps more slowly than some in the
> community might like. LA was created as a body to represent the Linux
> community in Australia and to act as a large consolidated voice to lobby
> government, business and other powerful organisations to adopt and
> promote it for the benefit of all. I believe that role remains as valid
> today as it ever was. It'd be a shame to see that focus lost because of
> the success of the conference.

Well spoken.

However, I hope we can more on to say "LA represents Open Source and
Linux communities in Australia" rather than restricting it just to
Linux. I for one see my focus wider than just the Linux platform.

Cheers,
Silvia.

> regards
> Terry
>
>
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