If you are based in Canberra or the surrounding regions, then I would like to invite you to join the inaugural meeting of the Business Linux User Group, Canberra. BLUG is a user group dedicated to discussing and supporting Linux and free software within a business context.

The meeting will be held on Friday, 4th of August at 1pm at Hotel Kurrajong in Barton
By the end of this meeting I would like to achieve at least the following:

  1. Establish an initial user group committee. Ideally consisting of 3 to 4 people
  2. Agree on when/where we will meet again

And of course, it will be a chance for everyone to meet and provide input on the overall objectives and structure of the user group.

I would appreciate an email RSVP if you intend on coming (justin [at] agileware DOT net). That way, I do not feel like an idiot if I’m the only one there!

Feel free to forward this invitation onto anyone else you believe may be interested in participating.

Hope to see you there!

Justin

About BLUG = Business Linux User Group
Business Linux Users Group or BLUG for short:

Linux and open source are deliverying serious business solutions today and this is happening everywhere.

Here’s the problem. No one is talking about it, raising the awareness or sharing these stories. Or if they are it is limited to within the confines of their own organisation. And if a solution is implemented for a particularly hard problem, again is this shared? And even if they wanted to share this knowledge where would they do it?

Business people (ie. people working in all sectors: Private, Government, Health, Education, Not For Profit etc. enterprises) need a regular forum where these type of topics can be discussed, where business problems and solutions can be discussed. And where the challenges of open source in business today can be thrashed out. It will be a open and *inclusive* forum for end users, implementors, ISVs, decision makers, developers, policy makers from all sectors. Basically, anyone that has an interest in the topic and being a part of a wider community.

Hence the idea of a BLUG = Business Linux User Group.

We already have a CLUG = Canberra Linux User Group. But that’s for sandals, board shorts, tank-tops and pizza. The grassroots guys.

BLUG is for business*

*Business being: Private, Government, Education, Health, Not For Profit etc. All possible enterprises where FOSS is used today. Non-exclusive membership. Inclusive.

For more details and some comments on the idea of forming a BLUG then please read the original BLUG post.