KC Lug Direction

[mike neuliep]

A while back ago when Ed an I kind of started KC Lug I had a clear direction
and goal in mind:  simply to gather with like minded individuals to advocate
the use of Linux within the business community as well as to help Linux newbies
with their problems.  We did some volunteer work for Independent Electric
(www.iemco.com) meeting on Saturday mornings for a couple of weeks until we
were finished with the project.  I wanted this to be the format for the meetings
for the future of the LUG.  Unfortunately my employer was having terrible
financial difficulty and I bailed out of that company which was going downhill
very fast.  My next (and current) job is located in the south Chicago 'burbs.
At this time I handed off the website responsibility to whomever would take it.
I'm pleased with the website, considering no one is getting paid to do it--it
is all done by volunteers.  I manage the facilities and the listserv.

Gauging what I see with kclug and comparing it to the Chicagoland LUG (clug)
I'm real happy with kclug.  We're unmoderated.  Clug is not.  There are 
definately more holy flame wars on silly things such as desktops for X and 
why ABC editor is better than XYZ editor.  We need to steer clear of these 
kinds of pitfalls and remember our goal.  kclug is here to advocate linux to
everyone, and implement it in the field wherever possible as well as teaching
both newbies and peers in areas an individual has strength.  

A lot of my time lately has been spent doing consulting after work hours as
well as ramping up for the North West Indiana Linux User's Group.  There is
nothing in NW Indiana where I live, but there definately is a lot of 
interest.  The goal with kclug will eventually be to hand it off when the
group settles in to where it needs to be.  I'm am going to try my best to be
present for kclinuxfest, however I suspect I might be way to busy here with
consulting jobs among other things.

Here is what I'd like to see happen at the KCLug booth:

	o someone contact vendors not attending the fest, find out what freebies
	  we can get from them to give out to booth visitors

	o set up squid caching server and precache a lot of linux pages like
	  the kclug webpage, freshmeat, debian.org etc etc

	o have a posterboard of local linux success stories.  Include production
	  projects that run linux, especially if the app is mission critical.
	  For example, I set up cistron-radius when I was at Olsten Health
	  along with an idiot proof user manager scripted in cdialog so
	  their helpdesk could manage the users.  Also we should include what
	  the group did at Independent Electric.

	o Somebody set up that linux-webcam.  I would LOVE to see this.  We'll
	   set the webpage up to point to the local connection for the "live
	  broadcast".  I will personally put up $50 towards funding the 
	  connection if someone will do the above tasks.

	o Do an application comparison.  For every commercial application, there
	  is an equivalent app that you can probablyeven buy support if upper
	  management requires it.

	o Ever see that commercial from IBM where they claim to make 23 platform
	  work as one?  They do it with linux...  We need to show how it is
	  being used by big business in real world solutions.

	o Someone needs to video-tape everything.  We need to walk the floor,
	  get a feeling of the energy that is out there with the vendors and
	  the people attending.  Then we go back and put some of the choice
	  intervues up on the website.

Whew!  This is getting too long, but you guys get the idea.  Think of this week
at kclinuxfest as a really really long kclug meeting that lasts a whole week.
Do that and all of you will be ok.

Mike Neuliep
mike at illiana.net