> If you're stuck for ideas, why not try contributing something to your
> favourite linux distro? Bug reports, documentation and code are almost
I think there are places where ILUG's contribution could be more significant
than contributing funding to the software development tasks of a distro.
ILUG's prime value is not its bank account, it's its community.
An example from IFSO is the "Preventing Software Patentability" event we did
last November. We spent less than 400 euro of IFSO's money, along with a
lot of volunteer time contributed from the IFSO members.
We had government and big industry representatives there (including MS), we
got a positive write up in the Irish Times, and we recorded it and made
transcripts afterward to maximise the value:
http://www.ifso.ie/events/2005-11-18/index.html
My suggestion to ILUG would be to look at the things that you wish were
happening, which you can't rely on someone else to do, and put resources
into them.
IMO, the biggest need for the community is for there to be more awareness
about sustainability.
Many companies and people can be relied on to spread awareness about the
existence and value of the software, but not many are talking about what has
to be done to stop the value from unhappening.
Users need to know that as well as existing and being great, making the
software exist has been a 22-year struggle, and the struggle gets tougher
now because we're eating away at the profits of some of the world's
best-resourced companies.
Today's threats include software patents (which didn't go away, they just
took a nap off-radar), copyright expansion, and DRM. Some positive efforts
are GPLv3, the open document format, and the progress being made by FSF,
FSFE, and FSF Latin America.
( Here's a transcript of RMS's recent FOSDEM talk on GPLv3:
http://www.ifso.ie/documents/rms-gplv3-2006-02-25.html )
--
Ciarán O'Riordan, _________| Belfast, Northern Ireland, Thursday March 16th
http://ciaran.compsoc.com/ | \\ FOSS Means Business //
http://www.fsfe.org________|http://foss-means-business.org
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