[Liverpool] Departure

[Stephen Watkin]

I'm sorry to see you go Bob, and I'd like to thank you again for the 
work you've put in organising the group, and for both of your talks I 
managed to catch. I'm well on my way to IPv6 certification myself, 
although you'll have to pry my copy of Vim from my cold, dead hands! ;)

. . . . . But I've got to take issue with this:

On 22/08/12 22:07, Bob Ham wrote:
> [...]
>
> I decided to leave LivLUG and to announce my departure at OggCamp.  As
> if to confirm that I had made the right decision, before making this
> announcement a certain other LivLUG member, who shall remain nameless,
> suggested in all seriousness that the group should host a talk about
> Windows 8.  To me, making such a suggestion is an outrage.  It is an
> offence to what LUGs are about.  However, it seems to be in line with
> what LivLUG is about.

I don't mind telling everyone that this was me, however the suggestion 
was certainly not made "in all seriousness" (I did say I realised the 
idea sounds daft, because I was well aware I was in a LUG meet when I 
said it). However, I think there's certainly stuff to be said about 
Windows 8 *from the perspective of a Linux user*, who's probably heard 
about it but doesn't know what it means to them. The secure boot 
initiative, for instance, should certainly trouble anyone who cares 
about free software. Is there anything else they've cooked up in Windows 
8 we should be worried about? Or are there any genuine innovations that 
might make their way in to desktop Linux at some point?  Early reports 
indicate it's not being received well. Is this going to help Linux 
adoption? And like it or not, most Linux users who buy a laptop in the 
next few years are probably going to end up buying a Windows 8 license 
with it. Has anything changed with regard to returning it? I'd certainly 
be interested in hearing some answers here.

I think it must be possible to discuss proprietary software without 
promoting it. Whether it's a tiny binary blobs or a massive business 
system we have to use in our day jobs, It's very much a part of most 
Linux users' lives. The fact that Linux and free software in general is 
such a niche topic is one of the reasons why LUGs even exist, and we 
must be able to discuss proprietary software without causing offence or 
outrage.

Cheers!

Ste