(NOT!) BAD perceptual emphasis on ...

[Asheesh Laroia]

Excerpts from Michael Paoli's message of Thu Apr 26 03:41:34 -0400 2012:
> > From: GoOSSBears <acohen36 at linuxwaves.com>
> > Subject: Re: Bay Area Debian (BAD) meeting 2012-05-09 Oakland  
> > (rather near UDS) (Michael Paoli)
> > Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:38:08 -0700
> 
> > With the Bay Area Debian group's perceptual emphasis on Ubuntu -- as
> 
> <soapbox>
> It's a Debian group, not a Debian/Ubuntu or Ubuntu group.
> So there may happen to be some overlap, maybe even some synergy, ... so
> what, Ubuntu is a "large" / "major" distribution, and it's based upon
> Debian.  And, as you also point out, there certainly are many other
> distributions based upon Debian.  As matter of fact, there are more
> Linux distributions based upon Debian than upon any other distribution,
> so not surprising that one or more of them may be relatively "large",
> "major", and/or popular/common, and that there might even be some
> synergy(/ies) there.  And, while there certainly may be some overlap,
> there are certainly a whole lot of us, that much prefer Debian :-)
> If/when there happen to be major Linux / Open Source / etc. events
> happening in the Bay Area that happen to fall on date, and around
> typical timeframe for a BAD meeting - and sometimes also not-so-major
> events/meetings (e.g. LinuxWorld, OpenSource World, UDS, Alameda County
> Linux Journal Meetup, BAYLISA Monitoring SIG), I (and/or others) might
> schedule/place BAD meeting such that they happen to be conveniently
> close, as there commonly are at least some moderate or more number of
> folks interested in attending both.  That doesn't change BAD meetings
> into Ubuntu or Debian/Ubuntu or whatever meetings ... not that any
> particular topics are "off-limits" at BAD meetings, but the discussions
> are typically rather to quite informal - and I think generally/typically
> involve a lot more discussion of/about Debian than non-Debian
> distributions / operating systems.
> And, if, e.g., we look at the March - May BAD meetings this year, we see
> (and one might know / be a bit more familiar if one actually attends
> these meetings)
> March - was quite Debian-centric - it was the OS under discussion, with
> negligible exception (some mentions of historic and other
> considerations/factors) ... whole lot 'o detail related to that meeting
> can be found here:
> http://wiki.balug.org/wiki/doku.php?id=system:vicki_debian_lenny_to_squeeze
> ... and on that document I find Debian "outweighing" Ubuntu in mentions
> at a 58:1 ratio.
> ... and that wiki page is on a Debian VM (qemu-kvm) atop a Debian host.
> April - was definitely a BAD meeting - there was also, close in time and
> geography, a preceding "Ubuntu Hour", but quite different events,
> separate times, and places, and separate (but somewhat overlapping) set
> of attendees to both (in fact, there were some at the "Ubuntu Hour", but
> not the BAD meeting, and vice versa, and also some that went to both -
> fairly typical - again, distinct events).
> May - it's a BAD meeting - it's "far enough away" that it's unlikely any
> UDS folks will be at the BAD meeting *unless* they happen to also be
> interested in attending a BAD meeting (and "close enough" so attending
> both is quite feasible).  And I quite specifically stated/worded things
> in the ANNOUNCEMENT, so the dinner bit is the BAD meeting.  The
> keysigning isn't the BAD meeting or, in any "official" way, part of the
> BAD meeting - but folks are quite welcome to the keysigning if they want
> to (also) do that (and at least thus far, the keysigning isn't any kind
> of official UDS event either, at least as far as I know).
> 
> And, "of course" (shotgun rules!), if one doesn't like when/where/how
> BAD meetings are called, well, call one of your own!  :-)
> (notwithstanding the mandatory bits, e.g. 2nd W, and "Bay Area"
> location).
> </soapbox>
> 
> March: http://bad.debian.net/list/2012-March/003485.html
> April: http://bad.debian.net/list/2012-April/003489.html
> May:   http://bad.debian.net/list/2012-April/003491.html
>         :%s/keysinging/keysigning/g
>         http://bad.debian.net/list/2012-April/003492.html
> http://bad.debian.net/shotgun_rules.txt
> 
> > evidenced by the contents of just this snipper alone -- I'm wondering
> > why a more accurately revised name shouldn't be the Bay Area
> > UBUNTU/Debian group, i.e., BAUD??
> >
> > IIRC,
> > 1) There ARE popular forms of Debian rather than solely Ubuntu, e.g.,
> > the parent distro Debian GNU/Linux and its various forms (Stable,
> > Testing, Experimental), Crunchbang Linux, Bodhi Linux, Linux Mint,
> > ... etcetera.
> 
> And if/when Crunchbang Linux, Bodhi Linux, or Linux Mint, etc. has a
> major (or perhaps even not-so-major) event in the Bay Area on the 2nd
> Wednesday of the month where such is feasible for BAD meeting to also
> be close and (mostly) non-conflicting, again, I and/or others might
> call BAD meeting to facilitate interested folks being able to feasibly
> attend both.

Michael, thank you for scheduling this meeting of BAD per the shotgun
rules.

Thank you also for being unnecessarily nice to GoOSSBears; he/she seems new
to the inclusive, universal spirit of Debian's universal operating system,
and moreover unaware of Bay Area Debian's shotgun rules.

I'm deeply appreciative of all the work that Bay Area folks have done to
promote Debian. It's a joy to see that promotion and discussion of Debian
continue.

I look forward to seeing you, and other fine folks, in attendance.

-- Asheesh, aka paulproteus at debian.org.