On 9/19/06, Michael Still <mikal@stillhq.com> wrote:
Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:
> - I don't believe that Australia is big enough for two organizations
> which cover so much common ground.
Aren't there a lot more than two at the moment though? I can think of
AUUG, LA, SAGE-AU, ACS off the top of my head.
I don't think there's all that much overlap between ACS/SAGE-AU and bodies like LA and AUUG.
ACS and SAGE-AU target specific kinds of professionals. SAGE-AU specifically targets sysadmins, but they target sysadmins of all platforms - Linux, Solaris, and Windows are all well-represented on the mailing lists, but other commercial unices get a look-in as well (and even obsolete things like Novell get discussed from time to time). There's also a lot of discussion about the processes sysadmins have to work within and about the role of sysadmins within an organisation.
True, a lot of SAGE-AU people tend to favor FLOSS - even those who primarily use Windows at work seem to tinker with FLOSS a lot on the side. However, SAGE-AU itself is completely neutral on the issue of platforms: SAGE-AU exists to help sysadmins admin whatever syses get thrown their way.
I'm less familiar with ACS (I'm not a member of ACS, as I am of SAGE-AU), but my impression is that they target developers and "engineers". Again, there would be a lot of overlap in terms of people, but ACS' goals and objectives are wildly divergent from organisations like LA. I'm not saying they're at all incompatible - just very different.