Dear Rion,
This note of yours prefixed possibly the greatest .sig file I have ever
seen. Note that I have excised it from this reply both for brevity and
out of my pride in your authorship. After all, I flat stole your
penguin...
Anyway, you bring up some interesting points...
On Wed, 2 Apr 2008, Rion D'Luz wrote:
Coming from ccv, i can understand your interest in attending the FOSSVT
conference, or anyone w/in the .edu community. But at the risk of
earning myself more 'personna non gratis' points, or be modded
flamebait, I'd like to understand why anyone else on this list w/out
$125 burning a hole in their pockets would choose to attend.
It is an exclusive club that has that kind of money for such frivolity.
Such a group bears watching. Could this be the starting point of a sea
change in the current Vermont State (Microsoft only please) position?
My guess is that this is a preparatory meeting for such a position in the
future, (say January 2009 :^). Why the economic barrier to participation?
Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that someone, in this case
rbennett as the sponsor, is spreading the FOSS word.
I am quite fond of Rubin, I suspect he sees some commercial value in this
gathering. That said is a powerful endorsement and an inducement to
spending the money, if I had it.
But i follow this list pretty closely, and it seems that a dis-connect
exists between the communications on this list (at least insofar as
activism is concerned) and the way this conference came about. After
all, who besides us lugnuts has been talking FOSS in edu/gov all these
years?
A very fair question, asked eloquently with excellent citations of the
VAGUE traffic supporting your assertion noted in the original message you
sent Rion.
Is there another VT listserv in the academia realm that poses the tough
questions and tries to create workable solutions through the qualified
inputs of its membership?
...and if there was, would anyone disclose this information to the
unwashed Attention Deficit Disorder riddled masses that are VAGUE?
Now, I'm completely open to standing corrected in my assertions,
[insert here]
but looking at all the threads in my 'vague' mail folder and
ignoring all the dated threads related to spreading FOSS that go back
more than 6 months or so, here is a break-out of how i see this thing
unfolding:
As I am the first citation, I gotta say that this is something I really
would have preferred to be invited to rather than having to pay to go to!
Linux at CCV
From: Paul Flint <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Date: 12/30/07 09:37 pm
Which continues into a long (and fractured) thread that ran about a
month that started as .edu related: Relentless plugging of Linux at CCV
From: Paul Flint <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Date: 01/02/08 11:06
And eventually spun off into it's own thread:
GNU in schools?
From: Richard Lawrence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Date: 01/23/08 03:07 pm
And which generated a fairly substantial amount of input from vague
members. Then, in a thread that began almost a month later
re: the next monthly meetup for March: Will all the dancing Hitlers
please wait in the wings. We're only taking the singing Hitlers.
That was a catchy subject line!!!
Reference "The Producers" 1969 Movie.
From: Paul Flint <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Date: 02/28/08 05:19 pm
Josh's post to that thread contained this little tidbit of information:
From: Josh Sled <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Date: 02/28/08 05:52 pm
[quote]
As well, I see that there's the FOSSVT conference
<http://ncose.org/node/11> on April 4th. If anyone is attending (I may
try to), a summary/overview of the conference at the April meeting would
be great. But as no one's volunteered that, the April agenda is totally
open. (Even better might be some coordination at the March meeting as
constructive input to the FOSSVT Conference, but I'm not quite sure what
that might be; I'm sure anyone planning on contributing to the
conference is already doing so.) [/quote]
Why the good FOSSVT folks did not invite us is what mystifies me. BTW
does anyone but me know the keynote speaker, David Trask? He is an
interesting and accomplished educator. I have attended and taught at his
conferences in New Hampshire and Maine.
A week later comes this thread:
Letter to educators: what if...?
From: Rick White <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Date: 03/07/08 09:10 am
Richard is a fine fellow, a peaceable retired scholar, and a sincere
advocate of open source.
which, by 3/14, generated lots more inputs and brought attention back
into the .edu/.gov advocacy realm followed soon after with "the real
reason we use Linux"
By 3/20 it turns into:
Vague talk about and integrating technology into K-12 education
From: Robert Sargent <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Date: 03/20/08 09:34 pm
Now, you'd THINK there might be some mention of the fact (like a new
thread saying HEY: there's a conference...) but no; jsled's blurb
was the only ref i can find on the list. Even though this thing was
probably in the planning for some time, and someone was creating the
agenda and rounding up presenters.
It would have been nice to see the VAGUE'rs involved in this, but
basically we are by our nature fairly disorganized. Could this be the
reason for the presentation of a "fait accomplis".
Note Rion, you missed a meeting at Signalz where FOSSVT was introduced.
My fault it did not make the minutes.
Just to make sure i didn't overlook a notice i checked out the vague
wiki under future events; nothing there.
Nobody gave me a wiki account... that that this would have mattered.
(p.s: kudos to the author(s) of
http://www.uvm.org/vague/wiki/index.php/Letter_to_Vermont_Legislators)
Indeed.
So, what's my point? I'm really glad to see this happening, but it
strikes me as disingenuous for certain people to enlist the inputs and
feedback for something a lot of people are interested in, only to find
out "oh, btw, we put this thing together that we're calling "The Vermont
Open Source and Education Conference"
If David Trask is involved with this, then this may be a full court press
to try to spread the gospel to the Stateocrats hereabouts, otherwise it
seems damn strange, however these are "interesting times".
for some group out of Utah who's interested in setting up their
"National Center in northern New England" and for which we few might
directly benefit.
This is your most important assertion. Who are these people, and where
did they come from? Utah? Are they Mormons? What gives here? Are we
being invaded? Do I need special underwear?
And altho we're in contact w/some locals on the list we're leaving the
rest of you out of the loop; but if you'd like to attend its only $125
and your money (like your inputs) are always welcome.
And most of those attending who will have any input at all are getting
that $125.00 from our Property Tax!!
Thanks a bunch. I would suggest that if there is a private inter-member
channel being used, then use that channel instead of creating what
appears to be a division on this list of insiders and outsiders.
Rion, you are a rude boyo, but you say what needs to be said.
Re: FOSSVT conference... Anyone here going? Contact info?
Well, not me.
Out of courtesy I have included some folks on this message who did not
get the thread. If they want the thread I am replying to please ask.
Sold out even if i wanted to go.
Note that if this FOSSVT conference it sold out then it appears the
organizers have made their money. Maybe we can show up with bag lunches,
and listen in for free. I really do not need the Attendance Certificate
to show my boss. Currently, I am trying to get a sponsor, how
interesting if even as a sponsored and paid conferee I am excluded due to
over subscription.
Thanks Rion, I want to hear what folks have to say about FOSSVT.
Regards,
Flint
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Paul Flint
Barre Open Systems Institute
17 Averill Street
Barre, VT
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http://www.bosivt.org
http://www.flint.com/home
skype: flintinfotech
Work: (202) 537-0480
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Consilium
gratuitum .~.
valet /V\
quanti /( )\
numerantur ^^-^^
