Hello, The fundamental problem that we have here is not really the dead website or a lack of updates on the website. The dead website and the lack of updates are only symptoms of a deeper problem which is the inactivity in the group. What we should really be worried about are not the symptoms but the root problems. Trying to address the symptom and causing further problems is not really the solution to the root problem.
I am sorry and sad that we as a community have not been able to really build critical mass and sustainability in the group in spite of repeated attempts in the past by multiple sets of people. The reality however would be that this is probably going to be the nature of the problem in general since there are no vested interests in driving the community forward. Zyxware's attempt in 2006 was preceded by the earlier attempt in late 1990s and early 2000s in building the original Free Software Users Group Trivandrum. Unfortunately both initiatives had fizzled out over time because both attempts could not build and retain active, passionate manpower in the community. I am not saying that there is no sustainable solution to the problem but that so far we have not succeeded in finding and implementing one locally. For around 5 years since 2006, Zyxware as a company had tried to sustain regular activities in the community to identify, nurture and build a regular volume of active, passionate and enthusiastic youngsters. I believe I can proudly claim that we played a central role in the activities in the community during this period. We were reasonably successful in doing this as well. However because of the lack of a commercial ecosystem in Trivandrum (and Kerala in general) around Free Software we were not able to retain these people geographically and most (almost all) had moved on outside of Kerala seeking better prospects. From what I have seen so far in the community, self-interest typically always takes priority over the interests of the community and I haven't seen too many people (although I have seen a few gems) who were willing to sacrifice a bit and invest their time in working towards building a strong community. Without the physical presence of passionate individuals, driving regular activities was a big financial overhead for a small organization like Zyxware. Zyxware was probably the only company in Kerala to have an employee with a designation "Free Software Evangelist". As we pulled back our direct active involvement in the community physical activities dwindled because of the ensuing leadership vacuum and over time virtually no activities were happening. There were small random attempts to restart things but nothing had taken off. We have not given up on Free Software as can be seen from the mission statement of the company. 'Promoting and popularizing the philosophy of Free Software' is a key mission with which the company has been founded ( http://www.zyxware.com/about). Again, I am not sure if we have another company in Kerala with a similar mission statement. In the past we had tried to promote Free Software without trying to ensure that we were generating enough revenues from Free Software to sustain promotional activities around Free Software. In retrospect I believe that it was critical that we should have tried to build a strong commercial activity base around Free Software to generate revenues to subsidize the non-commercial activities and also to hire and retain people who were passionate about Free Software to remain within Kerala. It is very easy to preach the philosophy of Free Software or be engaged with online activism. However when it comes to physical activities, real labour and real money are involved. Only a steady and sustainable physical activity thread can really reach out and promote the philosophy of Free Software. Everything else will really be only about preaching to the converted and starting and fighting fires within a closed group. My reading is that the key aspects to be addressed, for building a vibrant, sustainable and growing community of Free Software users, contributors and activists, are 1 - A regular set of physical outreach activities 2 - A regular infusion of fresh blood 3 - Nurturing and building competency and passion among new converts 4 - Generating employment opportunities around Free Software in the local market 5 - Building a commercial ecosystem around Free Software that can fund and drive activities as well as absorb and retain passionate and enthusiastic individuals. In the past we (Zyxware as a company and fsug-tvm as a community) have successfully executed points 1, 2 and 3 but had failed in points 4 and 5 which ultimately prevented sustenance of 1 which lead to the stoppage of 2 and 3. As a company Zyxware is committed to the philosophy of Free Software and we are pursuing strategies to get 4 and 5 working for us as a company and build an ecosystem for Free Software around our commercial activities. We have been slowly but steadily pursuing this over the last year or so and we have started generating a revenue stream around Free Software services in the local market. Moving forward we are looking to grow and expand this to a viable commercial system and we invite people who are passionate about Free Software to come join us in building this ecosystem around Free Software. I believe that Free Software works on the premise of reputation through contribution. I believe Zyxware as an organization has made significant contributions to the promotion of Free Software in Trivandrum, in the state of Kerala and specifically through our RequestCD program ( http://www.zyxware.com/requestcd) across India. You could see some of our documented Free Software contributions / activities here - http://www.zyxware.com/categories/free-software. Some of the biggest campaigns / activities included Freedom Walk (http://www.freedomwalk.in), Freedom Toaster (http://www.freedomtoaster.in), Technopark Install Fest ( http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/linux-install-fest-at-technopark/article1322461.ece). We also contribute significantly through our Drupal operations. I believe that we might actually be the largest code contributor to the Drupal project from India (https://www.drupal.org/marketplace/zyxware). I cannot speak for the community as I am not currently playing an active role in the local community. However as a long standing member / contributor / activist in the Free Software community in Trivandrum I would welcome anybody who is really interested and concerned about the Free Software Users Group Trivandrum to come and revive the physical activities around Free Software in Trivandrum and reinvigorate the community. Doing that should allow volunteers in the community to get the website going again. Best Regards Anoop John Founder & CTO Zyxware Technologies |-- | Zyxware Technologies | http://www.zyxware.com |-- | Be the change you wish to see in the world, M. K. Gandhi |-- -- -- "Freedom is the only law". "Freedom Unplugged" http://www.ilug-tvm.org You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ilug-tvm" group. 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