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Hi All,<br>
Some great comments and feedback here, well done to all involved
with this side of things. I did lodge my proxy for the SGM as I was
unable to attend (even though I would have loved to been there to
support the organisation in person), I've also not been able to
attend LCA's in recent years due to tighter financial
circumstances. Personally I would to have loved to have thrown my
hat into the ring to be an OSIA director, but due to other personal
issues that I'm dealing with at the current time means that I would
not have been able to do it on a full time basis. However I'm more
than willing to do some volunteering at a lower level with smaller
amounts of time should the need arise, and my skills and expertise
happen to<br>
fit the bill.<br>
<br>
My comments on this are..<br>
1) Noted that our current number of financial members are on the low
side, but not quite sure how we can boost these numbers for OSIA. A
few weeks ago I did post up another email outlining some other areas
that could be addressed to further improve the value to our members.<br>
2) Should we seek sponsors who are prepared to offer OSIA something
of a more financial nature, rather than just in kind? Please don't
misunderstand me here, I'm not saying that in kind has no value, but
trying to see if we could do more with some more dollars in the
bank.<br>
3) Working with LA more could be of quite significant value for the
FOSS industry as a whole (hence I would support this), but I'm not
going down the line of suggesting OSIA to merge with them, or to get
taken over by them as per say. Although LA have less volunteers in
recent times to what they had in the past, there are still some very
good people within their organisation who could be of great assett
to us, and also vice versa back in return.<br>
4) If we don't have the resources to continue as a company, should
OSIA perhaps consider going down the lines of being a not-for-profit
organisation under ASIC? This to me would seem a more cost
effective direction to take, but does someone else have another idea
to look into?<br>
5) I don't agree with OSIA going into hibernation for any amount of
time - I think that Mark Phillips has commented well in this area.<br>
6) I feel that OSIA should be offering more to members than just
Government lobbying, etc. Don't get me wrong there is a need for
this, but it should not be the primary focus of OSIA - please refer
to my other post that I sent out a few weeks ago around this issue.<br>
7) Winding up OSIA should not be taken lightly, or the easy way out
of a larger issue. If we need to go down this path then it ought to
be addressed in more detail & further discussed on this list
with both our financial members, past members / other interested
people who are on this mailing list.<br>
<br>
Anyway are there any further comments, ideas, suggestions, etc..?
It would be great to see what more of you have to say on this.<br>
<br>
Warmest Regards,<br>
Grant Petch<br>
GP Computer Services<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 28/01/18 15:33, Anastasia kuusk
wrote:<br>
</div>
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<div style="direction: ltr;">Agreed Bob.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div style="direction: ltr;">Regards,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div style="direction: ltr;">Ana</div>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div class="acompli_signature">
<div style="direction: ltr;">Anastasia Kuusk</div>
<div style="direction: ltr;">Technology Project &
Program Management</div>
<div style="direction: ltr;"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.inforg.com.au">www.inforg.com.au</a></div>
<div style="direction: ltr;">Phone 0428836405</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jan 26, 2018 at 3:19 PM +1030,
"Bob Birchall" <span dir="ltr"><<a
href="mailto:bob@calyx.net.au" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">bob@calyx.net.au</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="3D"ltr"">
<div dir="auto">Hi Mark,
<div dir="auto">I agree with these comments. The other
significant outcome of the meeting that I would add to
your list was the expression of goodwill from Linux
Australia, manifested both in the number of present and
past councillors who attended our meeting and in the
sympathetic and encouraging words of Cathy Reed and
others.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">Dave Kempe pointed out to me this morning
that over 400 organisations paid for their people to
attend Linux Conf this week. This is the open source
industry. Its strong, though diverse. If OSIA is to
speak for it, we need better mechanisms than we have
currently for harvesting opinions and resources. </div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">My take on our situation is this:</div>
<div dir="auto">- any future for OSIA lies in closer
collaboration with LA;</div>
<div dir="auto">- there is a widely held view that ongoing
representation to government is necessary, in some
matters vital and urgent;</div>
<div dir="auto">- we have neither the troops nor money to
continue as a public company;</div>
<div dir="auto">- past and present members do not perceive
value in the existing structure. </div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">We have an invitation from LA to
discussion of what alternative futures might look like.
I think we need to take that up.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">My opinion.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">Bob Birchall</div>
<div dir="auto">Calyx</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On 26 Jan 2018 11:56 AM, "Mark
Phillips" <<a
href="mailto:mark.phillips@automatedtestsystems.com.au"
moz-do-not-send="true">mark.phillips@automatedtestsystems.com.au</a>>
wrote:<br type="attribution">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<p>The following points are based on my
recollections of the SGM. They may be incorrect
and incomplete and if so please correct me in any
replies.<br>
</p>
<p>Also feel free to forward this email to any
participates expected on Saturdays board meeting.<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<ol>
<li>There is approximately 25 financial members of
the OSAI. There were approximately 7 attendees
and I think 3 proxies. ( plus myself and the LA
representatives)<br>
</li>
<li>There are 6 sponsors. Did any of these
sponsors attend or supply proxies for the SGM?<br>
</li>
<li>Jack and Rod expressed their wish to stand
down, Jack has stated he would be interested in
a limited company secretary role. Alexar is only
interested in a caretaker role and will resign
from the board when additional directors are
appointed.<br>
</li>
<li>There was only a single EoI for the role of
OSIA director.<br>
</li>
<li>Kathy, Linux Australia (LA), mentioned that
volunteer support is diminishing within LA<br>
</li>
<li>David's comment that OSIA has succeeded and
therefore is no longer relevant</li>
<li>Ron's comment regarding putting OSIA into
hibernation for about 8 months.<br>
</li>
<li>Jacks comment regarding Government agencies
approaching OSIA in the past.<br>
</li>
</ol>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>So, while I thought that it could be possible to
resurrect OSIA given three board members and my
commitment expressed through my EoI, I no longer
think this is viable long term. There is no
significant support from either the membership,
both financial and non-financial in the short term
let alone the long term. and I would go as far as
to say there is no significant support from OSIA's
sponsors. In kind support is not what is currently
needed. Also just looking at the OSIA's attendees
at the SGM there is no next generation.<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>The governmental/public profile support generated
by Jack's time on the board has been damaged over
the last 12 months. This can only be further
damaged if OSIA goes into a hibernation period as
suggested by Ron. If OSIA is going to be
resurrected now, it will be difficult enough to
regain this forgone credibility with the various
government. In this circumstance, as an outsider,
I would be seeing that OSIA is not a industry body
but a personality driven body. If there is the
correct person available then the body thrives, if
there is not, then the influence of OSIA dies.
This is not to say that strong leaders are
problem, I'm saying that it is this in-between
times that could suggest that the OSIA is not
backed by industry but by persons with a specific
interest.<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>I think David's comment (6) is wrong. Open Source
has not "won" it has become somewhat accepted.
There will always be issues that will be
detrimental to Open Source that should be fought
on all levels. Two recent examples are the
resurrection of the TPP in Australia and the
changes to net-neutrality in the states. There is
also privacy concerns and concerns regarding open
standards. These sorts of fights are never won.
Individual battles are won but the war is ongoing.
Vested interests will always try and assert
control to their benefit. OSIA must be continually
on guard for this sort of influence and oppose it
where it can. So no I do not think open source has
won if it ever can.<br>
</p>
<p>It is my opinion that continuing long term
support for OSIA in it's current form does not
exist. Therefore a better mechanism for long term
commitment and thus viability for the ideals of
OSIA, independent of personalities, needs a
thorough investigation.<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Mark<br>
</p>
</div>
<br>
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Osia-members mailing list
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