[ILUG] [Fwd: [ILUG-ADMIN] cork stuff (fwd)]

[Mike Knell]

Kevin Lyda wrote:
> John McCormac burst across the net:
> >No. It is counter-intuitive. People will automatically type www.linux.ie
> >- anything else would be confusing. It is far better to have
> >www.linux.ie acting as the gateway.
> 
> it's completely intuitive.  it's also more pronouncable.  (anyone here
> ever notice that "www" has more syllables then "world wide web?")

As I read my list traffic on the bus rather than in work, I've come a bit
late to this discussion, but thought I'd share the thoughts that sprang
into my mind while reading this thread anyway.

While local groups are a good thing (they provide a handy focus for
people who feel the need to meet up, drink beer and slag off Microsoft in
addition to catering for mankind's genetic urge to form steering
committees), there's a bigger picture which it's important not to lose 
sight of.

It's very important to avoid insularity - although I only heard about it
not very long ago, it's a real shame, IMO, that the Irish UUG had to fold
due to lack of interest when there's one flavour of UNIX (Look, I know
Linux isn't officially UNIX, but it looks and quacks like that particular
duck enough for nobody to notice that it's really a penguin) that's going
great guns in the home market as well as in traditional UNIX sectors. It
would be nice if the UNIX community could present a united front
rather than fragmenting, and even nicer if those sections of the Linux
community who don't seem to realise that Linux is not the only UNIX out
there got a view of the bigger picture.

I think what I'm trying to say is that it's important not to spend so much
time examining the grass-roots in detail that you forget what the rest of
the meadow looks like - Linux is a global effort, and there are more OSes
out there than just NT and Linux.

Finally, on the domain name issue - if users think like I think they do,
the most likely URL for your average businessman to type into a web
browser if they want to know about Linux will be "www.linux.com", not
linux.ie.. I remember discussing with Colm when linux.ie was in the
process of registration why ie.linux.org. wouldn't do the same trick 
without second-level DNS growth _and_ indicate that it was part of a 
global Linux community. He didn't agree with me, needless to say. *grin*

Anyway, don't mind me. Just thought I'd express some incoherent opinions.
I'll shut up now.

Mike

-- 
Computer Science System Administrator, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
       mike.knell at cs.tcd.ie -=- http://www.cs.tcd.ie/Mike.Knell/