mmt (03/04/83)
This note more or less repeats one that I posted when can.general started. I am the nominal chairman of two Canadian UNIX Users Groups, one being the DECUS UNIX SIG, the other the Canadian version of Usenix. Neither has been active for the last two years or so, largely because I have had no time to do anything about it, and my efforts to get someone else to do the job were unsuccessful. This note is an attempt to get some opinion from the net as to whether either group should continue to exist, and if there is sufficient positive opinion, an attempt to get someone to take responsibility for organization. Responses from the previous article suggested that there was no need for a user's group, since its functions were performed by the net. To my mind, this is true only for a minority of sites, since I know more UNIX sites that are not on the net than sites that are. One possible function for a Canadian UNIX User's group might be to publish a newsletter that contained an edited version of discussions taken from can.all, for distribution to those sites (and archiving at other sites). It might also be a forum for more premeditated discussion. The Canadian UNIX User's Group and the DECUS UNIX SIG had almost the same membership, since at the time they were active, UNIX was available almost exclusively on DEC machines. This is no longer the case, and arguments for or against the two groups could be made independently. Since DEC now supports UNIX on all its machines, the existence of a DECUS UNIX SIG makes sense, as a vehicle for channelling user communication with DEC on bug fixes, desirable utilities, and so forth. This is one of the main functions of other DECUS SIGs, but was not a function of the UNIX SIG before DEC's announcement. If you have comments on reasons for or against the continued (active) existence of either a Canadian UNIX User's Group or a Canadian DECUS UNIX SIG, please either mail them to me or post to can.followup. I will collect responses, and make a further submission to the net when things seem to have settled down. Nominations for "office" would be most welcome, in case we decide that an organization should exist. Martin Taylor (416) 635-2048 ...utcsrgv!dciem!mmt DCIEM, Box 2000, Downsview, Ont M3M 3B9