[Linux-aus] Should Linux Australia change its name

[Chris Neugebauer]

On Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 13:16, Paul Gear <paul at libertysys.com.au> wrote:
> On 26/04/12 12:20, Chris Neugebauer wrote:
>
> Once again, I'm curious: what sort of sponsor would have trouble with
> excess profits going to Linux Australia (I'm assuming from a position of
> ignorance that PyCon is something like LCA in its financial structure),
> but would not have problems with other parts of our values system, such
> as opposing software patents, open standards, and open source?
>
> I would have thought that any company or individual holding the position
> that they don't want any of their money helping Linux would be a company
> whose sponsorship we're not likely to attract regardless.  (Once again,
> i'm coming from a position of ignorance, since as far as i can tell
> these companies have not been named in this conversation, nor have their
> reasons for not wanting to support Linux.)

It's not about not wanting your money to go to Linux.  It's about
*wanting* your money to support the Python community.

Consider the options to an Australian organisation: sponsoring Linux
Australia or sponsoring the Python Software Foundation.  The latter
one will support the Python community in the US (with a small amount
of money coming back to PyCon AU), and the former will directly
support the Australian Python community, including their employees,
through PyCon Australia.

The latter clearly sounds like the correct group to sponsor, because
it sounds like it's directly supporting Python.  Supporting Linux
Australia sounds like you're directly supporting Linux, even though
you're not.

Directing sponsorship to "Linux Australia" through PyCon does directly
support the Python community, that's not an obvious a conclusion to
draw.  The conclusions more likely to be drawn are incorrect, which is
likely to deter potential sponsors.

--Chris

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--Christopher Neugebauer

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