On Mon, Feb 25, 2008 at 4:28 PM, Per Jessen <per@computer.org> wrote:
Martin Schlander wrote:
Being a board member of a LUG (the old-fashioned distro agnostic kind) myself, I'm not particularly pleased with the Ubuntu LoCos. I don't think this fragmentation is good for LUGs, GNU/Linux promotion effort, or really anything else for that matter. United we stand, divided we fall.
Yep, couldn't agree more. I think a SIG as part of a local LUG (as Zonker suggested) is by far the better approach - if one is needed at all.
I do think we need some sort of local presence, whether specifically as a openSUSE local group, or SIG with LUGs, or something else -- for one thing, it'd be good to have regional groups that could represent openSUSE at regional shows that have booths for each project, etc. and also as a focal point for openSUSE users who are already in an area -- for instance, I do like the idea of having regional release parties for openSUSE -- assuming I'm not on the road when 11.0 is released, I'd like to have a release get-together near where I live (the Tampa area in Florida), and that would be easier to coordinate if there was an existing local group. It would also be good to have local contacts to ship DVDs or CDs (and t-shirts, stickers, etc.) to in bulk to distribute at LUG meetings or other events. In some cases, regional groups might also be able to act as central points of coordination for localization efforts -- IIRC we support 52 languages right now, but we could always improve there. Ideally, any local groups would act in concert with their LUGs or be part of the LUG itself. That is, of course, assuming there *is* a LUG in the area. I also agree with the educational idea -- It would be really nice, I think, to have openSUSE users in a given region who are willing to either have installfests or assist local users in using openSUSE, or perhaps helping people become openSUSE contributors. This is, for me, about finding ways to get existing openSUSE users and contributors together in person, and finding ways to expose more people to Linux and openSUSE. I'm not at all interested in any sort of "openSUSE vs. Distro X" situation -- but I am deeply interested in using the resources we have to encourage more people to use Linux, and to make it easier and more fun to use openSUSE -- and I think part of that is having some kind of regional presence. Also, I want to know who to look up to go for food & drinks with when I'm in a given region. ;-) Best, Zonker -- Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier openSUSE Community Manager jzb@zonker.net http://zonker.opensuse.org/ http://www.dissociatedpress.net/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org