Partially a pep talk, and partially as a reply to the complaints I heard
over the list about times and places. I'm adressing them all in one
bunch, hopefully this will settle some of the issues. try to read this
with a positive and optimistic mind before replying :-)
the WHY
-------
In the past we were talking a lot about organizing meetings and
lectures, and we never ended up securing rooms anywhere conveniant,
except the one time in TAU, which was a wonderfull meeting with Lectures
from Dr. Stein and others, not even entirely Linux-centered. then for 3
(maybe now 4?) years we have not had any real serious meeting, maybe a
dinner 3-4 times. I'm afraid that does not entitle us to call ourselves
a community or a LUG. we are just a mailing list if we don't do more
(well, that's my view of things. no need to argue about this paragraph)
I do realize some of you may be thinking "what does he want from
us? back from Silicon Valley and he already wants us to be the same...",
well let me tell you. Silicon Valley and the greater San Francisco Bay
area has 5 LUGs around it. and we are talking about a total of 2
million residents or 3 at the most. each has a meeting at least once a
month, each has an install party 10-15 times a year (at least). now I
know the air is different, companies are more open to help and donate,
and speakers are easier to get, but it was not always like that, you
have to be heard before you can expect to be listened to.
for WHAT?
---------
back there, the meetings happen on Wednesday nights once a month, they
get commercial backing (SuSE and Red Hat giving away prises by HAGRALA,
and Cisco offers for free it's bigest lecture hall, as the lectures
sometimes attract 200-400 people). Most people drive 30-80 minutes down
to San Jose to participate and listen, then go party at the nearest all
night diner and talk. Great things happen. Penguin Computing and
LinuxCare started that way, many of VA Research's employees (now VA
Linux) got to meet their next boss and coworkers through those meetings.
it's fun, knowledge and business at the same time. it's well worth it!
Now WHAT?
---------
Now I have a lecture hall. it has air conditioning, a video projector, a
cell projector, an online computer in the podium, even LAN and power
sockets at every seat if you want to bring a laptop and broadcast on IRC
what's going on :-)
oh yes, and there's PARKING available.
Most importantly I have a Net/sys admin of the campus and the dean of
the CS faculty on my side supporting and welcoming the intiative. what
more can we want?
WHO will come?
--------------
well, speakers we have. Ury Segal has volunteered, I may get Maddog,
I'll invite Magic for one of the upcoming meetings, then we can get
Ze'ev and Andi from the PHP team, the list is endless. If we build it,
they will come. if the lectures are good and outsiders come to join in,
ALL THE BETTER. I want you all to bring friends and coworkers (and the
boss you want to convert to the linux camp :)
WHERE are you going with this?
------------------------------
this is my vision, and I can't get there alone. I hope more people think
this is worth giving their time and efforts for this.
linux-il should be the center for information for linux users and
developers. When Magic or Microsoft Israel, SGI Israel or any other
company makes a product or Linux strategy announcement, Linux-il
meetings will be the place to do it! Linux user meetings is where Marc
andreesen first publicly addressed the Netscape source release, and
Corel announced their netcomp and office. This is the neutral ground
that should attract journalists to ask questions without getting
subjective replies by a vendor pushing his own product. THAT is the job
of the community. to have a speaker (no, I'm not offering myself), and a
become a brand, even though we are not competing with anyone in the
industry.
WHEN is this happening?
-----------------------
as soon as we make it happen. it is never too late. Linux has the
obvious problems of Right to left in the Israeli commercial market. if
there are no users there will be no reason to develop, right? WRONG. if
you don't develop there will be no users. Israelis are so good at
startups afterall, if we raise awareness, we can only help ourselves in
return. Do I hear Qtext for Linux? maybe someone wants to pick up the
glove and help Sun with the Hebrew parts of Star Office? Opera wants
beta testers for Logical Hebrew browsing in Linux, we'll be their
contact to find volunteers!
I know so many people out there that use Linux heavily and never even
looked for our list or website. this situation should be improved!
HOW can we help?
----------------
* Evangelize, E-vangelize and then Evangelize some more :-)
* send me votes for preffered times and days so I can make it a fixed
monthly venue. Fridays are disqualified because of the saturday
entering, Thursdays nights are off because of Maccabi games I hear, and
on Wednesdays there's Ally McBeal... seriously though, I want to decide
on a fixed time and day of the week so we can make concrete plans for
future lectures and meetings (can't make this friday any better, it was
a last minute thing).
as for getting there, there are busses, and there's a parking lot for
private cars. I encourage people here to ask around to get rides from
people coming from the same directions (anyone living close to Giv'at
Ram, J-lem? Geoff Mendelson needs a ride). No point in complaining to me
about the place, It's the best I can get, and it's better than anyone
has ever managed to get for this group. I'm willing to take 3 people in
my car (or 4 thin ones) back to north Tel Aviv after meetings to be
nearer the frequent busses, and I hope others could also pull in efforts
the same way. It's easy to say it's too far away, but were not
organizing a party here, I hope to make this much more than that, and I
hope that together with others here we can make it worth your while to
come, even if from Haifa or Jerusalem (anyone from Be'er Sheva? :-)
So this Friday there WILL be meeting. at 1 O'clock at the IDC. signs
will show you the way to the right hall ('Ulam 5). Lecture is probably
going to Be Ury Segal's about Kernel internals and hopefully the
surprise guest will be Jon "Maddog" Hall of VA Linux and Linux
International.
I'm planning on 30-50 people, and I hope I'm not deluding myself. I'll
even organize the cookies, tea and coffee, and I think I can organize a
hot water thingy from the IDC staff too. please do the effort to come.
some of us may be geeks, but we promise not to bite your heads off :-)
on this positive note, I hit ctrl-x on this letter now, hoping this
letter pulls the right attention and consideration. Volunteers
accepted. please remember to vote for the days and times at this
address:
http://ren.scso.com/linuxpoll.html
--
Ira Abramov ; whois:IA58 ; www.scso.com ; all around Linux enthusiast
.you could spend *all day* customizing the title bar. Believe me. I
speak from experience."
(By Matt Welsh)
=================================================================
To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command
echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
