[SLUG] July Meeting

[john at johnallsopp.co.uk]

>> It might be a good time to ask generally what people want.

I've been thinking about this. Obviously most technical questions you can
answer online.

I think groups like SLUG perform the function of a magazine. They
introduce you to things you haven't necessarily been thinking about. As we
work we follow our own paths towards solutions .. at the risk of becoming
poetic, like water towards the sea.

A magazine introduces us to all the land inbetween that we've missed as
we've focussed on our own destinations. A magazine's purpose isn't really
to educate, it's to pop up and say "hey, have you thought about this?".
It's to introduce applications we may not have seen, to give us a feeling
for trends, and to deliver news. It's the modern day equivalent of village
talk.

As we chat in SLUG, we're likely to chat around Linux issues and we'll
find new ideas and opinions we hadn't thought about. We'll get the chance
to pit our opinions against others, that's worth something, that's
training for when we face clients.

We also get an idea of our standing among our peers. Most of the
conversation went over my head last time .. I've not even got Linux fired
up yet .. but I've found my head ringing with words like Debian and Suse,
which I knew, but because they've been mentioned a lot in that meeting,
they're higher in my consciousness now.

I guess a newsgroup does a very similar thing. So the difference between
SLUG and a magazine/newsgroup is real human interaction (and beer). For
me, sitting at home all day tippety tapping, that's worth something.

Finally, I know that if I said "hey, could someone install Linux for me"
someone would. I don't, btw, I want to do it myself, but the point is, you
can't get that from a magazine or newsgroup.

Cheers
J