[ubuntu-uk] Linux User Group of Glastonbury (was High Wycombe LUG)

[Mark Fraser]

On Sunday 29 Jul 2012 10:57:13 Sean Miller wrote:
> We need to get LUGOG (Linux User Group of Glastonbury) going again,
> haven't had a meeting for a couple of years, but the challenge is
> exactly this...
> 
> On 29 July 2012 10:18, Gareth France <gareth.france at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I didn't really picture it as being something so formal as having speakers
> > really. At Reading nothing like that goes on and it's a very casual
> 
> Nobody in the LUG seems to be able to agree on what they want.
> 
> Some won't attend unless it's a formal speaker type setup ("I might as
> well just go down my local and chat to Linux users online than travel
> to drink with Linux users who probably don't know much anyway" etc.)
> and others don't really want a formal presentation and would rather a
> casual chat about shared problems etc.
> 
> It's all really "horses for courses" and, unfortunately, we don't have
> enough members to really sustain two courses.
> 
> The other problem, of course, is that Linux is a kernel not an
> Operating System so whilst the users no doubt have a lot in common
> there is a lot that is different too.... we need to recognise that
> most "Linux Users" are no longer trying to do obscure things from the
> command line but are far more likely to be running applications and
> (of course) we have the 90% of "Linux Users" who don't even know
> they're "Linux Users" but are running the kernel on their Android
> smartphones.
> 
> Not to mention that if you get a Debian user, a KDE user on another
> distro, a Gnome user and a Ubuntu together in one room there is
> guaranteed to be fireworks.  We have the challenge of "evangelism",
> people not trying to help but rather convert, saying things like "that
> wouldn't happen on *MY* distribution"...
> 
> It's far too much effort for me, to be honest.  I would *love* LUGOG
> to restart, but I have no great confidence that it would survive for
> more than another 2-3 meetings.
> 
> Any ideas anybody could offer as to how one could make a LUG viable in
> a sparsely populated area like Mid Somerset would be gratefully
> received.

I used to go to LUGOG when it was at West Camel or at Somerton when Andrew 
Waldrond was running them, but when he left and it went back to Glastonbury it 
was a bit too far for me to travel.

I did try to get something started with a user group in South Somerset (SSLUG) 
but that went quiet too.