An Open Letter to the Ubuntu-au Members

[Andrew]

> Andrew, you replied to Grants email with "I am drafting a complete reply
> to Jeff's post as he has asked some very important questions ..." - have
> you sent the reply? i didnt get it
>
>   
I have not done so as yet as basically the things I was going to cover 
have pretty much been brought up by others members through this 
discussion. So don't worry you did not miss something as it did not 
actually happen, however I'll put down my thoughts at the current point 
in time.

A lot of things have been happening with regards to this discussion and 
it is great to see where everyone stands and I have a lot more 
indication of what members have actually wanted. This is something I 
personally did not see before and I now have a clearer view of where 
things stand and gives me something to work with in the future and from 
what I have seen from this there are others in the same boat.

The single biggest point that I have seen debated has been the issue of 
official registration. I personally knew this was going to stir up the 
pot and I have no regrets being a part of it. In my book it was a means 
to an end and provided the catalyst to what we are starting to discover 
now. I am aware of people and resources that have been on the sidelines 
that we are in a position to use, that I (and others) are only now aware 
of. This is the fault of no one as I think a good communication factor 
within the group has not been established.

The other important thing I have noticed is what people have expected 
from this group. I personally expected a lot more and I had big 
expectations for what other members have been doing as there were some 
fantastic ideas thrown around from day 1 at the first 'official 
meeting'. However unless someone has something different to show me I 
have not seen head nor tail of anything too constructive from anyone 
(and that includes me). Someone please advise me if I have missed 
something important here. The biggest thing I have noticed and remember 
is Paul Schulz and his effort at Connecting Up '06 which was a fantastic 
effort on his part.

When I found this group I thought it was working towards being something 
big, but it appears that there are those of you who are just wanting it 
to stay very informal. Was I (and others) expecting too much? If that is 
all it was supposed to be, then I am happy for that, but my impressions 
were otherwise.

As to a meeting to discuss this, I can now only tell you I really don't 
know. I am happy to discuss this at one of our Tuesday meetings, but 
with only 6 out of 42 odd people listed on our 'members list' turning up 
to the last 'meeting' (from what I have been told, I have not done the 
numbers myself) what can we possibly acheive? Yes, I know a few of you 
had other commitments with LUV and such and I respect this totally and 
as such I put this issue of changing meeting times on the agenda last 
time and yet again bugger all happened. I know I was supposed to have 
put up some form of voting on the wiki however I was a bit disillusioned 
after the last meeting. Perhaps we should do this but in with a 
different slant in that we use it to set a definate meeting time that 
most of us can attend?

As I mentioned before. I value everyones viewpoint with great 
enthusiasm, and I look forward to hearing more. It is apparent we all 
love Ubuntu with all it's juicy goodness!

Cheers,

Andrew Swinn (Phlosten)