[Linux-aus] About a User Conference - grand plans

[Tim Bowden]

On Thu, 2005-02-24 at 08:51 +1100, Nathan Bailey wrote:
> Jon maddog Hall <maddog at li.org> wrote:
> >	o MySQL
> >
> >or software that can be used to create portable applications
> >	o Perl
> >	o Python
> 
> I think these later ones (and Tim Bowden's "'professional users', ie,
> dba's, small time(?) web/sys admins) are serviced by OSDC,
> http://osdc.com.au/, which is essentially an Australian OSCon
> (http://conferences.oreillynet.com/os2005/) focused more on developers,
> DBAs and web admins than sys admins and kernel hackers (and 2004 even
> included some talks in the vein Tim mentioned of "How to better use
> Apache" :-)
> 
> I don't think OSDC caters to Tim's "serious desktop users (oo.o,
> gimp...)" and some of the other more user-centric audience that seem to
> be Michael's focus though.
> 
> re,
> N

On reflection, I can see I have made the mistake of trying to get
all /my/ needs filled in the one conf.  osdc is indeed a better place
for some of what I would like (why, oh why did they have to hold it in
December?  Such a difficult time of year to fit something else in...).

Many topics of widespread interest though, aren't covered in osdc or
lca.  Without doubt there is more than enough scope for a serious user
conf- Say one stream for beginner to intermediate user, one for
competent users looking to push the boundaries of what can be done with
FOSS on the desktop, and one for minor sysadmins.

I know sysadmin type topics are dealt with by AUUG and SAGE, but their
conf's are aimed at full time professionals who can spend a small
fortune in registrations.  I'm thinking more along the lines of a home
user who has a linux desktop but wants to host a small website/ ftp
server etc for their friends or local club.  Maybe someone who wants to
put their hand up in a small business and take on sysadmin duties as an
extra because it interests them without it being the main part of their
duties and without it being a significant cost to the business.  They
don't fit into what AUUG or SAGE have to offer as far as I can see.

Tim Bowden