Bill Traynor wrote: > Thank you immensely for your comments, Chantal! So are you saying that > Industry Canada and Heritage Canada were genuinely interested in the > Linux/Opensource voice in Canada. or just the organizers were? Who were the > organizers?
The organizers in fact were Industry Canada and Heritage Canada. During the lunch break reps from both departments spoke to us. The guy from Heritage Canada in particular was interested in us and told us point blank that the people breathing down their necks were Sony and other lobby groups with the big guns. As far as he is concerned it is more difficult internally (in the ministry) to justify open source and linux because we are not a constituent, in conventional terms, yet. IE how does he make a case when our community is unable to say we are x strong and are represented both at a local and national level. My understanding is that there are many people in the government who are talking about Linux, some genuinely interested, and some committed, but selling open source, like someone earlier mentioned, is a difficult thing to do with the largely conservative animal that is the Canadian government. Chantal. > >>Regards, >>Chantal Bertrand. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>M Taylor wrote: >> >>>My two cents on things so far. >>> >>>I am glad to see some life in CLUE, I believe that it is a group >>>worthy of the effort to set it back into motion. >>> >>>I see CLUE as a national group, providing resources that local LUGs >>>cannot afford or do not have the resources to offer. This includes >>>things like advocacy at the national level, such as with the federal >>>government department and agencies, sponsoring research and white >>>papers which can be used across Canada, legal council resources such >>>as whitepapers and legal advice for Open Source and Free Software >>>licenses (e.g. how 'legal' and binding is GNU Public License?) in >>>Canadian law, awareness of patent or other intellectual property >>>issues which may restrict the development or use of Linux OS and its >>>software in Canada (i.e. CD-R levy, Copyright Board researching >>>DMCA-like restrictions in Canada, DVDs/region codes restrictions), >>>preserving the Linux trademark, and provide resources to regional >>>LUGs. >>> >>>For a mental model of struction, I think of the Radio Amateurs of >>>Canada (RAC) www.rac.ca, which is a national non-profit >> >>organaization, >> >>>individuals join directly with RAC, and regional clubs can be RAC >>>affilated. RAC provides resources for both individuals >> >>(magazine, QSL >> >>>service, etc.), and clubs (club insurance rates, organiziation >>>material like sample club constitutions, by-laws, promotional >>>material, etc.) in return for the membership fees. RAC also follows >>>national (and international) laws regarding radio which directly or >>>indirectly affects amateur radio, and there is a related "defense >>>fund" to fund legal activities to defend amateur radio from bad laws >>>(antenna bylaws) and corporate and government interests >> >>attempting to >> >>>lobby away amateur spectrum allocations. >>> >>>Other than perhaps the defense fund, I think it might be a decent >>>model for how CLUE can operate. >>> >>>I like to see SIGs for LUG organizers, Linux education, advocacy, and >>>consideration of certification efforts. >>> >>>I think there is merit to forming a SIG for _considering_ whether to >>>become involved in or associated with a given Linux certification. I >>>think that there are many factors and issues which would need to be >>>considered in detail before actually taking a concrete action. >>> >>>I do not see CLUE as a professional society; >>>a) I don't expect any base standards for membership other >> >>than a bona fide >> >>>interest in Linux (e.g. no education, work experience, >> >>exams, referrals >> >>>requirements), for many of us this is a personal involvement >> >>not a work >> >>>related activity like a professional society >>>b) I don't expect many to be interested in paying $100-200 >> >>in annual fees, >> >>>c) I don't expect a full time paid support staff any time soon, >>>d) I don't think we can expect (a) professional >> >>publication(s) routinely >> >>>published like Spectrum (IEEE), Communications of the ACM, >> >>Computer (IEEE >> >>>Computer Society) and definately not referred journal >>>e) I don't think we want compete with CIPS and the likes >>> >>>I don't think we should expect to be the Linux equal to the Canada >>>Council for the Arts, which is a federal government "arms length" >>>agency that receives funding from Canadian Heritage. >>> >>>I do think we have a chance to play an important role in providing a >>>government liason for specific funding grants or endowments, >> >>such as GUUG >> >>>and GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) <http://www.gnupp.de/start.html> >> >>(German). >> >>>I expect there are projects which could receive funding from >> >>the gov't >> >>>such as to make it more useful for their own purpose (i.e. >> >>better UI), >> >>>or to produce better / more complete documentation, like some of the >>>guides the NIST and NSA have produced in the areas of computer >>>security. >>> >>>I don't know if there are any core members of Perl or Apache >> >>projects >> >>>in Canada, who could perhaps spending more time contributing if they >>>were funded by a grant. Of course OpenBSD would be one >> >>likely project, >> >>>I know at least a couple government department and agencies actually >>>do use it, and might be supportive of a cross-department funding >>>request. >>> >>>Best wishes and good luck to those who are really pushing to >> >>get CLUE >> >>>going again. I will try to do my part. >>> >> >> >> >> >>--------------------------------------------------------------------- >>To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> > > > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
