>-----Original Message-----
>From: Chantal [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>Sent: Monday, July 15, 2002 2:27 PM
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: Re: [admin] CLUE's purpose?
>
>
>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.
My hope is that with the collective brains of 2000+ linux users in Canada,
many of whom are experienced business people we can formulate a pitch that
can't be ignored!
Besides, I'd argue that opting for an opensource solution vs a proprietary
one is the more conservative approach. I just have to learn to explain why
such that the argument becomes obvious.
bill
>
>
>>
>>>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.
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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