Linux World / Network World 2006

[Evan Leibovitch]

Christopher Browne wrote:

>>I think even considering having a show like LinuxWorld without LUG
>>presence is preposterous.
>>    
>>
>
>Well, that side of things is TOTALLY up to Plum Communications Inc.,
>the company that organizes the conference.  What THEY want to consider
>is entirely their business.
>  
>
I know Bruce and Jai enough to know that they are well aware of the 
value of community participation. I don't presume to know what's 
happened to cause William to suggest that there might be no TLUG 
participation, but I'm fairly certain that plumcom hasn't suddenly 
dismissed the benefit of having LUGs at their conference. Since they 
have no problem with CLUE or other orgs, it may be something 
specifically to do with [G]T[A]LUG.

>The omission of a LUG presence would diminish participation by one
>non-paying booth, which, in the business scheme of things, strikes me
>as not merely "not preposterous," but potentially not even of a high
>degree of relevance to them.
>  
>
Every LinuxWorld event worldwide, from Boston to Beijing, has a 
significant community presence -- not just for LUGs, but for software 
projects such as LTSP and other orgs such as KDE or FSF. This is a 
characteristic of the LW brand wherever it's used, not an option.

The only thing close to an exception for this in the past year was 
LinuxWorld Moscow, which originally wanted to have a community-free show 
but later changed its mind for purely practical reasons. The lack of a 
community presence was keeping paying exhibitors away.

Make no mistake; the community area of LW shows attract both exhibitors 
and attendees. It makes real economic sense. It's my understanding that 
there _will_ be such a ".org pavilion" at LW Canada -- I am just baffled 
at the prospect of it not having any local LUG presence. Or even worse, 
of having the only user group (in the absence of TLUG) be something like 
PCCT.

>And after having been to RWL several times, it's a specialty event not
>at all precisely aligned with the interests of groups of LInux
>enthusiasts.
>
I respectfully disagree, strongly.

The show is intended to grow the use of Linux, and the interest of user 
groups that I know (not just TLUG) is to grow the size of the community. 
Some portion of existing groups like to stay elitist and really don't 
care about growing, and others seem to think that Novell or IBM making a 
Linux sale to a previously Windows or SCO shop isn't a big deal because 
that's "just marketing".

But I believe that the community includes everyone from the basement 
enthusiast to IBM, and a growth *anywhere* in the community offers both 
financial benefit and a furthering of general goals for open source to 
go from novelty to niche to mainstream.

To be sure, there is little of value for you to learn, but there is much 
of value for you to teach. Being at Linuxworld means lots of giving and 
very little direct receiving, unless you're trying to hustle personal 
consulting work out of the TLUG booth.

To this end, a business-oriented show may not have any direct attraction 
to someone deep into the nuts and bolts of Linux operation, but they are 
of substantial indirect interest. Any company making a purchase decision 
based on this business and marketing stuff will eventually need to hire 
Linux techs, get their people trained, contract support or programming, 
etc. Or they'll hire a subcontractor that will itself need to hire Linux 
techs, etc.

So it's in the interest of the techs to assist the suits in the ugly 
marketing and sales job. One of the great inherent benefits of the world 
of open source is the community, the bazaar, the multitude of 
meritocracies. It would be helpful to The Cause to have at least a token 
local representation at a show like LinuxWorld.

>There's certainly INTEREST.
>
>There are also some RESERVATIONS concerning some of the details in the
>contract presented by Plum Communications, Inc.
>  
>
AFAIR, CLUE never had a problem complying with Plum requests. The 
contracts also never kept out other orgs such as PCCT or the FSF. Maybe 
the TLUG contract includes additional non-standard terms based on 
performance of previous booths.

I will gladly offer any possible assistance as mediator between TLUG and 
Plum if that will help. Alternately, put the contentious contract 
details out on this list and see if the rest of us share your concerns.

- Evan

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