[wlug_org] Wgtn discussion result(s)

[Brent Wood]

Hi y'all...

I was tasked with letting everyone know the momentous conclusions we came to
over a very pleasant meal last night. Note, that makes this the official
version, so anyone else's recollections, if different, are wrong :-)

5 people attended, Mark, Ewen, Tony, Carl & me. (I think we all agreed on
this!)

Mark gave us a rundown of the history of NZLUG, including WLUG involvement &
the evolution of AklLUG, as some useful background. 

We all jumped in with enthusiasm, and tossed ideas & opinions around with great
fervour, in between mouthfuls of food, (at least mostly in between).


The general consensus was: (please note, this is only my opinion of what our
opinion on the night was, all in the absence of other input, like the opinions
of all of who weren't there)

NZLUG is primarily a mailing list based community of individuals with a common
interest in Linux, as are most LUG's. While regional LUG's can also have a
focus on meetings, this does not apply to NZLUG for obvious reasons.

We saw a real value in two distinct NZ Linux groups for two different roles

The NZLUG basically as described above, with a focus on individuals, much as
the regional LUG's have. The downside of this is that as effectively just
another LUG it is not any sort of umbrella or support organisation for regional
LUG's, in fact it could be considered competition. (Which is good for
individuals, but too many LUG's leads to what we felt would be undesirable
fragmentation). Getting a serious buy in from regional LUG's to jump in and
support NZLUG as "the national Linux organisation" therefore seemed unlikely to
us.

However we also saw a useful role for a group providing support/information/
facilities for both regional and NZ LUG's, not as a controlling body, but as a
body largely formed from interested people in the various LUG's who would
cooperate & share resources, hopefully reducing some workloads.

One example mentioned was a joint repository. Not a large stash!, but instead
of 6+ LUGS each maintaining what are largely duplicates, but each with
something the others may not have, it makes sense for the various LUG ftp
repository maintainers to cooperate in looking after a national repository on
behalf of and used by all the LUG's/LUG's members. 

An approach we thought viable was a NZ Linux Portal site, as the key entry site
for anyone interested in Linux in NZ. This provides info & access to all the
LUG's, a wiki, file/iso repository, NZOSS, etc. 

Such a portal would provides a focal point for Linux in NZ, less political than
NZOSS, less personal support oriented than LUG's/lists, but benefitting both
LUG's and individuals, building on & supporting the regional LUG's much as
linux.net.nz is now, quite distinct from NZLUG.


So, the idea of an NZLUG (www.nzlug.org.nz?) as one of several LUG's in NZ,
with a Linux portal (http://www.linux.net.nz?) seemd to us to resolve the
issues we've seen being tossed around.


Agree or disagree? Comments? Alternatives?


Having just solved all our problems, we cast around for something else we could
apply our collective genius to. Mark said discussions about a logo were
ongoing, and we came up with the idea of something like a coat of arms (NOT a
formally registered heraldic coat of arms) combining Tux & a kiwi, two
flightless birds, which we thought could be a neat way to combine the universal
symbols for Linux & NZ.

Anyone out there with the graphic skills to bring such a thing to life? Is it
even worth bringing to life? 



Cheers,
 
   Brent