This surprises me.
|
| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Ridcully Jan 25, 2012 5:21 PM EDT |
I knew vaguely that there was some sort of Linux organisation in Australia, but I had rarely, if ever, heard anything about them, other than they hosted international conferences and seemed to be way too stratospheric for a person such as myself. I personally would agree with Sam Varghese, they sure are hiding their light under a bushel. I'd even join, if I thought it would do much good - and I'd never seen their website before. http://www.linux.org.au/ Tracyanne...do you know much about them ? |
| tracyanne Jan 25, 2012 6:39 PM EDT |
I was in contact with them a few years back, I was even on their mailing list. Their attitude towards Ken's marketing campaign really turned me off them though. They are inward looking, parocial, and worst of all boring. Other than that I really don't know all that much about them. I vagely recall hearing about the ADA thing. The recent Linux Conf.au when I attempted to get journalist passes to it, they told me they had 2 passes that they had already given out... I think that pretty much sums up thier Marketing. |
| tracyanne Jan 25, 2012 8:12 PM EDT |
BTW today is Feb 26, it's Australia Day, or to some people in our country Invasion Day. My Partner and I usually go to the invasion day concerts, as the people there are usuall nicer, and the food and music better. |
| helios Jan 26, 2012 11:25 AM EDT |
In general, LUGs are worthless to the new Linux User. I have attended many "meetings" in the past....we're talking 2003-2004...My "noob" time frame. I was completely ignored. Mostly it was a lot of CPU envy and unsocialized, introvert geeks who attended only to show off their latest hardware hacks or scripts. Everything they did was so far over my head that I felt like a complete idiot sitting in the corner. It was a rare thing that I was even acknowledged being in the room. To say I was soured by the experience is an understatement. LUGs in my opinion, do more to chase a new user away from Linux than any foreign UI or DE. |
| JaseP Jan 26, 2012 11:41 AM EDT |
Ken, My experience was similar, but luckily I met a few out of that experience who helped me when I first started using broadband, and needed to set up my router, or how to connect to my digital camera (back before that was an easy thing). But, in general, I agree with you. Most LUGs cater to the EMACS running, RHCE cert-bearing, C & PHP coding, elite set... If you don't know how to write a script that re-nices a bunch of running services on the fly, or you can't resize a partition from the command line while ssh-ing into a headless server from a smart phone, most LUGs are not for you. That said, I have seen LUGs that spin off from those to help serve the more newbie set. |
| lcafiero Jan 26, 2012 12:25 PM EDT |
Ken -- A friend of yours -- let's call him Larry -- has been given talks about the very topic of the care and feeding of noobs at various conferences in order to help user groups be more welcoming. I think things are getting better, but they still need to improve. To be honest, I had the same experience as you did: it took me an hour to get someone's attention -- lighting something on fire usually does the trick; lighting someone on fire even moreso. Eventually, I did get help and started on my merry way. So if you are at a meeting and you find someone that strikes a deer-in-the-headlights pose, just give 'em a hand. Not applause, just some help. That's how we roll at Felton LUG, which interestingly has more new users than the grizzled scripters that JaseP describes (and we're all pretty friendly, too). |
| lcafiero Jan 26, 2012 12:31 PM EDT |
Meanwhile, back at the original article . . . . I'm trying to grasp what Sam's getting at here, because it appears to be two different things: -- The linux.conf.au folks having all this as-yet unspent money to either train techies to work better with the mainstream media or to help the conference itself promote the expo (with, of course, an implication of scandal, but I'll just leave that be), and -- How promoting Linux in Australia is lacking because there's too much "preaching to the choir." I completely agree with the latter, and it's things like Joe Brockmeier's talk at SCALE about getting yourself out there to the mainstream media serves FOSS well. As for the former, it would be good to see them get that straightened out. |
| Khamul Jan 26, 2012 2:48 PM EDT |
As far as I'm concerned, SCALE is something to be shunned because of their unholy association with GoDaddy. |
| JaseP Jan 26, 2012 4:44 PM EDT |
The preaching to the choir effect does have a lot to do with user experience level. It seems to me, that they simply didn't want to promote Linux to "the regular guy," even though the money was on the table. It seems like all they needed to do was use the money to set up a portal for users to exchange ideas,... Ala LinuxQuestions.Org... Or maybe the budget was ear marked too specifically ... But if you got it,... spend it. With non-profs, you might not get it again. |
| Ridcully Jan 26, 2012 5:35 PM EDT |
@Icafiero.....I tend to agree. As a long term user, virtually all my work is done on Linux and has been for 10 years - ain't Crossover Office marvellous when you simply have no choice but to use Win-based software ? That to one side, you would think that Linux Australia would make much louder noises than it is, and would be actively seeking new-comers and agitating in Canberra and the State Parliaments to see FOSS promoted. But I have seen virtually nothing in the news apart from the major conferences. And I think Helios is dead right on the aspect of new comers. I have had nothing to do with LUGs, but unless they very carefully cater for newcomers, they destroy their own future base. I hope you enjoyed your Australia Day events Tracyanne. I know we cannot go political so I won't; but personally, I was appalled at the events at the Canberra shanty yesterday and I think most Australians would be as well. No-one deserves to be subjected to such violence and physical abuse, least of all both our national leaders. |
| tracyanne Jan 26, 2012 5:59 PM EDT |
yes rid that seems to have been pretty bad. |
| vainrveenr Jan 26, 2012 6:01 PM EDT |
Quoting:As far as I'm concerned, SCALE is something to be shunned because of their unholy association with GoDaddy.Not to worry, there hasn't been extensive after-the-fact coverage of SCALE 10x as yet. For instance, an LXer search for "SCALE" for just the last week yields only Friday at the Southern California Linux Expo, LXer Weekly Roundup for 22-Jan-2012 and A New Design For FUSE File-Systems. A quick Google search on SCALE 10x yields http://lanyrd.com/2012/socallinuxexpo/ and Looking Back on SCALE 10x. Hardly the big, mainstream reporting one might otherwise expect! |
| lcafiero Jan 26, 2012 7:03 PM EDT |
Suit yourself, Khamul. Let me ask you something: Do you shun OSCON because they include Microsoft? Just askin' Also, there probably won't be any further coverage of SCALE 10X after the fact by the mainstream press, if before-the-fact coverage of SCALE 10X in the mainstream press is any indication. For what that's worth. |
| Khamul Jan 26, 2012 8:08 PM EDT |
At least Microsoft wasn't a major architect of and sponsor of SOPA. GoDaddy is a disgusting, sleazy company with a CEO to match. Finally, I don't see Microsoft on the sponsor list at oscon.com for 2012; the big ones are HP, Google, and someone called "DataStax". |
| helios Jan 27, 2012 7:54 AM EDT |
is a disgusting, sleazy company with a CEO to match. And you can't see Microsoft comfortably and correctly inhabiting the first word of that sentence? Not giving GoDaddy any passes here but for fruck's sake...you don't get any sleazier unless you actively work at it. I think it's fair to guess that MS has personally destroyed more lives in the tech sector than any other tech company. Their practice of Embrace, Extend and Extinguish has been the most negatively disrupting force in tech. And JFTR, Microsoft got kicked to the curb by OSCON this year and they decided that if they couldn't give the keynote again, they would fold their tent and go home. I for one am glad. Now MAYBE OSCON will develop a personality not shadowed by the Redmond influence. |
| Khamul Jan 27, 2012 11:10 AM EDT |
MS is one or two levels of sleazy below GoDaddy. Still way up there, but not quite as sleazy, and they put on a more respectable face and have more respectable product names than GD, which obviously sounds like something out of a porn movie. Their sexist ads reinforce that this is exactly what their founder was thinking. I don't see any MS ads showing scantily-clad girls with porn slogans on their t-shirts. MS has certainly caused a lot of damage in the tech sector, but even that pales in comparison to what SOPA would have done, and GD was one of the main architects and pushers of SOPA. SOPA would have entirely destroyed the internet, at least inside the USA. That's good news about OSCON giving MS the boot. It's bad enough taking their sponsorship money, but letting them give a keynote speech is way too much. |
| jdixon Jan 27, 2012 12:58 PM EDT |
> SOPA would have entirely destroyed the internet, at least inside the USA. SOPA would not have destroyed the Internet. The vast majority of users would probably have never been affected. The true dangers were to the rule of law and due process. Things which have historically been of far more value to more people than the Internet. |
| JaseP Jan 27, 2012 6:35 PM EDT |
@Dixon: I totally disagree. Major sites & services would have come under attack. Google, YouTube, Wikipedia, all other major search engines, online photo sharing sites, Facebook, etc. all would have been impacted. Revenue streams would have been cut, major lawsuits filed, etc. So called IP warehouses could have even used the law against Linux repositories, claiming that some of the files infringed on their copyright or patents. It would have been an unmitigated disaster. |
| helios Jan 28, 2012 12:04 AM EDT |
It would have been an unmitigated disaster. And I predict ACTA will do far more damage. Because open review and the legislative process was taken out of the equation, every democratic nation in the world had this abomination slid right by them. There are still very few people outside the people in the negotiation rooms that know exactly how far-reaching ACTA is. I only hope that Darrell Issa has the wherewithal to challenge the President's authority on making this an executive order under Treaty Status. He seems to be about the only one that sees the nightmare that is about to unfold globally. And my thanks to Cyprus, Germany, Estonia, Slovakia, and the Netherlands for withstanding the USA bullying them to sign by threatening their trade status. |
| Khamul Jan 28, 2012 4:07 AM EDT |
Yep, it looks like the Germans have a lot more backbone than the British, who are always being nice little yes-men for our evil government. |
Posting in this forum is limited to members of the group: [ForumMods, SITEADMINS, MEMBERS.]
Becoming a member of LXer is easy and free. Join Us!