comments at previous LUG attempt

[Glenn Smith]

marc,

I think you should model it after the Princeton LUG, which is a big group of hardcore computer people with a bunch of interests who happen to welcome complete novices into the linux world.

The problem, of course, is the 'herding cats' aspect -- lots of people spinning in different directions.

But I would think with the industrial base in Monmouth County, with Holmdel being old Bell Tell territory etc, that there would be plenty of IT people who be interested, if not working 100 hours a week to stay employed.

My interest in initiating the LUG was evangelical, getting everyday people who use MS to take a look at the obviously superior linux world. Actually, I was trying to seduce my son and his friends, and get them interested in computing rather than clicking on icons. They weren't buying. They were too distracted by their iPhones. I called lots of high schools in Monmouth and Ocean counties, and talked to some principals, and they didn't get it. I offered to have installathons at their schools. The genuine interest came from libraries, which are hungry to fill their their meeting rooms with interesting events. The librarians were all sincere and extremely helpful. Ubuntu sent me 200 CDs and we put these on counters at libraries, and they disappeared but we got little contact from newbies this way. The old LUG attempt had three meetings and the turnout was nearly all tech people, split equally above and below an average age of 35. I'd say focus on them exclusively, and chase newbies a year down the road.

I'll figure out how to sign over this googlegroup so that you can moderate. I'm in Asia, and don't foresee a return to the US. I'd like to stay in touch, however.

Glenn

[Marc Dostie]

Hi Glenn,

Sorry I keep missing you on google chat. RE: google group, I run a different
group, it's pretty easy to edit my permissions, just go into manager tasks and
make my login a manager or owner. I take take over message moderation if
you'd like.

Thanks for the input, I'm totally in agreement with your comments. I tend to be
a bit more "hard core", I'm sure there are many others interested in discussing
the latest in theoretical comp sci, mathematics, and open source in general,
and linux in particular.

I've got a friend on the RB library board so I don't think we'd have
an issue finding
a timeslot for face to face meetings there.

Thanks,

-Marc

[Glenn Smith]

just changed you to manager on the googlegroups list