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[LI] Bangalore IT.COM



All:

My apologies for not updating you on what is happening vis-a-vis Bangalore
IT.COM - too many things have been happening here simultaneously, and
then, to top it, I got floored by the infamous Bangalore Bug (those of you
who watched "The Mask" on Cartoon Network yesterday will know what *that*
felt like).

We (the unofficial group in Bangalore that has taken responsibility of
making the event happen) had a meeting recently with PCQ editor Krishna
Kumar, and considered all the suggestions made by all of you. Naturally we
had to accept right up front that there is a limit to how many of these
suggestions could actually be implemented, but I think we managed quite
well.

Time for the call for volunteers - people who will actually man the
various sections of the stall, and people who will take "ownership" of
these sections.

Later this evening (I will post a note when) I will put up a page on
www.linux-india.org detailing the "projects", the profile of people who
should handle them, the time frames, etc. (I don't want to put this
information into the list because it would be too transient in nature).

Note that *this* is getting *real* - this means that don't volunteer for
something unless you actually fit the profile. 

I know that many of you would object to this kind of "filtering" but
remember that we need to put up a professional, comprehensive and credible
show - every "uh, I am not really sure if you can do that with Linux, but
Windows sux" answer to a question at that stall will IRREVERSIBLY damage
Linux in the eyes of the audience. This was a commitment we made to PCQ
(the *only* commitment, in fact) - that we will *not* feed people with
garbage that will lead to articles like we saw recently in Outlook India.
Factual, to the point, professional, qualified, sane, honest....these are
the qualities we will need.

Most of all - be sure that when you volunteer for a particular section,
you are *qualified* to do so. This does not mean that you need to have a
Ph.D in the subject, but it does mean that you know *exactly* what you are
talking about when it comes to this topic. 

For example, if you are manning the "Linux@Work" section, and someone asks
about running Windows programs under Linux, be clear what the question is
- "Can I run a Windows program *on* a Linux box", in which case the answer
is Wine or VMvare, or "Can I run Windows programs *off* a Linux box" in
which case the answer is Samba. Over the past few days I have repeatedly
seen total confusion being created by people supplying the wrong answer to
a question.

To make sure that we have the right people, ILUG-Bangalore is going to do
a dry-run on the 23rd of October, and possibly the 24th, too, during which
we will try and coach people on how to handle the stall. Details will be
sent out in the next day or two.

Now let me get back to writing the document with the details.

May the Source be with us all.

Atul

-----------------------------------------------------------
Atul Chitnis     | achitnis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (PGP:6011BCB8)
C&B Consulting   | http://www.cbconsulting.com
Bangalore, India | +91(80)3440397 Fax +91(80)3341137
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