[ale] ALE-* dying?

Fri Jan 2 19:07:06 EST 2015

By being NOT distro specific, LPI shot themselves in the foot. All other certs are very vendor specific. Very few places will use both RedHat  and Debian for business needs. Thus LPI dies at the gate.

Unless there is a tool chain that is GPL and can basically upload a meeting on the fly with a minor delay so it's DONE when a meeting heads for beer, it's not a long term viable solution.

All of the ideas are good. But the active, committed body count is what's lacking. If people can't show up once a month for a meeting, how can they scrape up the time for an extra 2-10 hours to support the meeting. I live in a little bubble on virtual reality and don't know enough outside people to pull together a good talk every month. 

Honestly, I'm tickled pink that ALE has lasted this long. When (not if) it finally dies, it will be missed. But not missed enough for people to spend off-work time any more.  I pick up new hobbies like s stray dog picks up fleas. Brewing and blacksmithing have little use for Linux (other than controllers which have little sizzle appeal) so work is work and off-time is precious.

THAT is why ALE is in decline. It used to be we all got paid to do our hobby. But most of us grew up and found new hobbies. The new college people have Google and don't need us grey beards as much.

Of course we also have Apple to thank. When OSX came out, suddenly geeks everywhere could get their *NIX happy one with little effort beyond a simple soul transaction. I watched in horror as ALE meetings were infiltrated by Mac monsters and people started to not come back. When the Apple horror show was extended to Intel systems, ALE meetings sizes dropped overnight.

Scratch your head and recall the timeline. Gnome devels had chased the Apple UI for years while KDE did windows on Linux.

ALE is dying. Old people do mailing lists. My kids don't even read their email. "Hangouts" ate currently cool and I have zilch interest.

Maybe someone under 40 wants to link ALE into the current decade. I'm at a loss as to why Facebook is popular so I'm not the right person. Oh. The "kids" don't use Facebook now. Only us old people.

Get off my lawn!

On January 2, 2015 5:26:58 PM EST, Brian MacLeod <nym.bnm at gmail.com> wrote:
>Many times we've been asked to try and find a way to do recordings of
>meetings, but ultimately it takes additional resources to do this work
>(capture, sync audio, decent size data pipe/server to relay) that few
>have
>ever contributed (thank you Aaron, for doing pretty much all of the
>capture
>and editing the last couple of years at Central). But there's a lot of
>work
>and time wrapped up in producing the videos and getting them available
>for
>folks, and it is a pretty thankless job.
>
>If we moved to a video conference set up, I could see a bit more
>involvement from members, but, like so many things in the linux world,
>you'll have arguments over platforms because they aren't free in any
>sense,
>to free but restricted, to free in all ways, but not really all that
>good.
>And again, all of those will require some bandwidth to provide a decent
>experience.  It's doable, but you will have naysayers, no matter what
>platform is chosen, and considering how fun we make the political flare
>ups
>here, folks shy away from trying this.  I know *I* have, and that was
>at
>times when I had resources to bring to bear on the problem.
>
>If we can't agree on a video conference platform, I very highly doubt
>we'll
>get agreement on what a certification would look like.  And frankly,
>that
>would be something more attuned to something a national organization
>should
>undertake (LOPSA or LPI).  Oh wait, yeah, LPI still isn't considered a
>serious certification even after developing a curriculum and
>tests...and
>LOPSA is for sysadmins of all OS platforms.
>
>bnm
>
>
>On Fri, Jan 2, 2015 at 4:49 PM, Michael Brodeur <mikejoebro at yahoo.com>
>wrote:
>
>> Well, something I wrote before was recording the meetings where we
>discuss
>> relevant material for Linux users. This can be a session focused upon
>a
>> useful feature, or maybe one that will assist with certifications.
>>
>> That way, even if people can't attend, there will be something on the
>web
>> for them to view at their convenience. We can use a video
>conferencing
>> application for remote viewers, and record the meetings using
>whatever
>> software is appropriate.
>>
>> Hell, maybe we should create our own certification that's relevant
>for
>> jobs here in the US?
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Jan 2, 2015, at 4:11 PM, Brian MacLeod <nym.bnm at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Not to mention that as far as the whole helping users get jobs front,
>that
>> was part of what was driving the formation of a LOPSA chapter here in
>> Atlanta last year.  Mentoring, instilling ethics into operations and
>all
>> that.
>>
>> Then everyone got busy there, too.
>>
>> If ALE takes up this mantle, then there is less need for LOPSA here. 
>If
>> LOPSA gets restarted, then it could take some folks here away.  I'm
>not
>> saying everyone will go either/or.  But people are busy, and they'll
>make
>> choices that best benefit them, and with as many groups as there are
>in
>> Atlanta, you can't possibly attend everything in your circles of
>interest.
>>
>> But that's why I said something.  If we don't want it to die, we need
>to
>> look at what ALE *CAN* do to stay relevant and interesting enough for
>folks
>> to dedicate some time to it, even it is the occasional post on the
>mailing
>> list and attending a meeting here or there.  It'd be really great if
>we
>> could get more presenters too, but I already know that particular
>well is
>> pretty dry right now.
>>
>> bnm
>>
>> On Fri, Jan 2, 2015 at 2:40 PM, Michael Brodeur
><mikejoebro at yahoo.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I've mentioned this before, but I think the group needs to expand
>beyond
>>> a hobbyist base. If we start focusing more on helping Linux users
>get
>>> certified and get jobs, that may help mitigate dwindling numbers.
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>> > On Jan 2, 2015, at 11:55 AM, Leam Hall <leamhall at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> >
>>> > Want an outsiders opinion?
>>> >
>>> > Whether or not ALE meetings continue I personally find the mailing
>list
>>> very useful. It's my "go to" resource for linux stuff that isn't
>distro
>>> specific or when I want an educated but diverse set of opinions.
>>> >
>>> > The question every organization; be it business, government, or
>social,
>>> must answer is "why do we exist?". The answer changes, often faster
>than
>>> the organization. Some orgs die, some linger on, and a few actually
>manage
>>> to grow through change.
>>> >
>>> > There have always been lower grade admins. The same goes for
>>> programmers, "business analysts", writers, educators, etc. There are
>lots
>>> of needs out there; slow websites, where to find the best hosting
>package,
>>> open source project needs devs/testers/docs, small office
>networking, the
>>> list goes on.
>>> >
>>> > For a group of people who help others succeed, the members need
>chances
>>> to help and time to grow themselves. So my recommendation would be
>to take
>>> a group look at the options, figure out what is fun for you, and
>start
>>> moving in that direction.
>>> >
>>> > Leam
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > http://31challenge.net
>>> > http://31challenge.net/insight
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > Ale mailing list
>>> > Ale at ale.org
>>> > http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>>> > See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
>>> > http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
>>>
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>>>
>>
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>>
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>>
>>
>
>
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>
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--
Jim Kinney
Linux Systems Analyst
Physicist/Brewer
http://jimkinney.us
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