[ILUG] Renaming^H^H^H^H^H^Hforming ILUG

[Ross Lynch]

Hey all,

Hmm, RMS seems to certainly have been a hell of a speaker... pity I
missed it.

However, putting aside the fact that this is (or I thought it was/is) a
_Linux_ (or GNU/Linux - we all know what OS we're using) users' group,
if it's decided it make a giant LUG for every 'free' OS under the sun
(no pun intended :) and their various ethics and politics, then I would
imagine we'll see break-away factions developing. ILUG often get's about
100 mails per day. That's all very well, because most of them are
directly related to Linux. The point is that a lot of them are
_specifically_ related to Linux and if all OS's were discussed on the
same list, I imagine some people would become sick of all the 'extra'
mail. Why not let other LUG's for other operating systems, or indeed
software-politics/ethics develop as seperate entities? This surely would
be more healthy as the people organising these would have more time to
devote to their specific interests.

The current name, I feel is appropriate because:
1. It's immediatly obvious to new Linux users, of which there are many,
that this is a place where they can find help.
2. People using other flavours of UNIX are normally pretty familiar with
technical stuff, and know that if they need a question answered they can
post to ILUG. While of course this is not ideal, surely it would be
better that new groups be created for these rather than officially
declare ILUG as a big melting pot.

I know this has somewhat deviated from the original idea of simply
renaming to involve GNU somehow. My own opinion is that I see 'Linux' as
comprising the GNU tools aswell, so I wouldn't be for a name change for
the sake of recognition.

Anyway, basically my main point is that in a time where Linux is getting
so big that specific Linux users' groups are being dividing up into more
specialised areas, it would seem a tad backward to try to make things
any broader.

Ross.
-- 

Ross Lynch
087 6548827
ross at onesphere.net
kernel at student.nuigalway.ie