[Osia-members] OSIA October update

[Jack Burton]

Evening all.

October ends today, so it's time for another quick OSIA update.

October was a big month for OSIA events, with two being held in
Queensland -- on the 11th, a joint event with the Gold Coast IT Forum,
feature guest speaker Danny Maher of Opmantek on "Commercializing
Innovation (in real life!), Building Opmantek at the Gold Coast"; and on
the 17th in Brisbane the October OSIA Forum, featuring guest speaker
Andy Moore of Santos on "Open Source + Private Cloud = Big Data + Big
Benefits" -- an updated version of his presentation at the June OSIA
Forum in Adelaide.

By all accounts both events were very well received by those in
attendance.

The OSIA AGM will be held in Sydney, on Wednesday 5 December, at UTS (at
5pm, following the close of that day's OSDC programme). We haven't
confirmed which room is to be used for the AGM yet, but stay tuned for
an announcement from OSIA Secretary Bob Birchall within the next couple
of weeks.

As you're all aware, the annual call for nominations for the Board is
now open (see Bob's post to the list of 22 Oct). Just a quick reminder
that it closes on 12 Nov.

Speaking of reminders, since the call for renewals went out on 4 Oct,
membership renewals have started rolling in, but it's been brought to my
attention that a number of members are yet to renew. OSIA needs our
members' continued support to help fund the increased level of activity
seen over the last two years and to build further upon that in the
coming year -- so if you haven't renewed yet, please do so now.

On the alliances front, three members of the OSIA Alliances Committee
met with delegates from the Vietnamese Ministry of Science & Technology
(MoST) and VFOSSA (the Vietnamese equivalent to OSIA) in Adelaide during
October. Preliminary talks went well, and discussions will continue
between OSIA, VFOSSA & MOST with a view to establishing a formal
framework for collaboration in the new year.

The Board met in Brisbane on the 17th and will meet again (for the last
time as this year's Board) by teleconference in mid November. I've
spared you the details, as there's been little progress to report this
month on matters other than those covered above, due to the flurry of
activity around OSIA events, alliances and preparations for the AGM, as
one might expect at this time of year.

However, as always, members with any specific matters to bring to the
attention of the Board are encouraged to do so, either on this list, or
off-line with any current Director.

I look forward to seeing most of you in Sydney in December.

Regards,


-- 
Jack Burton MACS CP
<jack at saosce.com.au>
--
Director, Saosce Pty Ltd
Chairman, Open Source Industry Australia Ltd
Immediate Past Chairman (SA), Australian Computer Society Inc.
Founding Treasurer, OpenSA Inc.
--