[Linux-aus] The Ada Initiative - Should Linux Australia support it?

[Mike Carden]

As the person properly recorded in the Council meeting minutes as
having proposed this, I feel I ought to comment.

First and foremost, I'd like to thank AJ and others for quickly
putting up a Red Flag on our actions. You're right. We did fail to
consult properly with the membership. No question. I apologise for
that.

For myself, I can only say that my enthusiasm for the project and my
knowledge of its two principal driving forces (Mary and Valerie) made
it a no-brainer. If ever there was a project worthy of the support of
LA, this is one.

You may note that last year I supported Brendan Scott's project to
look at licensing issues and the Trade Practices Act. Again, I
supported the idea based on what I knew of Brendan. He delivered.

I spent the first 20 years of my working life in private industry and
developed my instincts there. In that context, The Ada Initiative is
something I'd jump to support instantly. For the last seven years I
have worked in the public sector where the norm would be 5 white
papers, a costed business plan, a Project Initiation Document, a risk
register, a Capital vs Operational budget, 27 sub committees and a
partridge in a pear tree. So I went with my former experience but I
acknowledge that we should have considered parts of the latter.

Let's think for a moment about what it costs to get this going. How
much would you have to pay to get two people to work on something full
time? Be conservative and assume they each give it half their
attention. So that might be one Full Time Equivalent (FTE) person. In
your workplace, how much does one FTE cost per annum? In Oz, the
Bureau of Stats thought that $77,761 was average a year or so ago.
Five K from LA won't make a big hole in that.

So I have nailed my colours to the mast and I welcome constructive discussion.

-- 
MC