[Linux-aus] Goodbye AUUG, hello phoenix

[Janet Hawtin]

hi jeff

thanks for your enthusiasm and passion
i can see why your saying that a united front would be more honest
i just dont feel it would be more effective.

i dont see why we need to own the org of all nixes belong to
i think we need to be doing joint projects.

there is no australian chapter of freeculture.org and we need one.
we also need an identifiable linux group.

today i was explaining open source to a chap and he was looking at the desktop
and then something clicked and he said - oh this is linux. yeh i know
about linux.
for newbies something identifiable is important.
channels where you can ask a question about what to use and there
can be a simple answer without crossfire are valuable.

using foss comparisons i think that the groups of small utilities
which work together have a dynamic strenght because people can pick
and choose to suit diverse needs
they dont need to all have the same system.
same deal with orgs.

i cant see how embracing people from potentially proprietory perspectives
can be comfortably done at the same time as expanding activity on free
culture and
free software. frankly even for linux people campaigning on copyright
is proving to be a challenge. for people who are happy proprietory
folk an organisation which is
proactively foss is not a good fit.

that doesnt mean that we dont have things in common with those people
and that an event which focused on what we have in common - eg a love
for interesting architectures and old tech might not be a buzz for
people from both perspectives.

given that many of the people on the auug list did not want to be
absorbed by the penguins i think that us assuming that they would feel
this was their org if we changed the name is not realistic. if a bsd
group renamed itself opensource.org.au
and said it represented us all would it be a good fit for us all?
eg should we close linux.org and reinvigorate auug. that is an
existing name with heritage encompassing the groups we are talking
about?
im not suggesting this but just trying to shift the perspective so
that we can see it from unpenguin perspectives.

when we have an event like software freedom day one of the wonders of
it is bringing together the community groups which have different
focuses and goals but all participate in the event. we had a concert
band, swing dancers, music mixing, games on cedega, wireless network
group airstream, linux on ipod, training, movies on foss and creative
commons stuff.

members of at least 5 groups participated. we met and learned things
about each others perspectives while still being able to tell visitors
what our specific focus was at each table or bit of venue.

having a number of groups means we can be more like meerkats
all watching and responding perhaps in different ways to different
triggers or interests, having a sense of collective values, joining in
events and projects,
feeling free to represent our specific interests.

event based unity is better than one org to bind them all*  imho =).

janet

*sorry dsl beat you to it =).