Talk:Linux India

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Contents 1 Facts? 1.1 Response 2 More response 3 Added Administrator and Moderator Info 4 Chennai Lug not mentioned ??

[edit] Facts?

There are several factual problems with this article.

Linux India has never been an organization, despite claims on its website.

Research easily shows that Linux India is a set of mailing lists and has no meetings, no board and no formal existence outside the mailing lists. An attempt to create a formal organisation failed in 2000, and was never re-attempted.

Linux India was never recognised as an umbrella organization for the LUGs in India, many of whom are not even aware of Linux India. There is no recorded cooperation between any LUGs in India.

It is also not true that Linux India was the first LUG in the subcontinent, in fact, Linux India was never a LUG. Long before the Linux India mailing lists were created, the (now defunct) Bharat Linux User Group existed, and Linux user groups were meeting informally, especially at locations focussed on academia, notably the TIFR in Mumbai, the IISc in Bangalore, IIT Madras in Chennai, and so on. These groups pre-date the Linux India mailing lists by several years.

This article is potentially misleading, and should be corrected to represent demonstratable facts.

[edit] Response

I beg to differ with you, o anonymous poster, that an organization has to have a board, must have meetings and have a formal existence. One of the definitions of organization in Wordnet defines and organization as "a group of people who work together". Linux India certainly fits this definition. Your definition might be true if we are to split legalistic hairs. However, in order to address your concern I have changed the entry from organization to community.

As for being the umbrella for LUGs, despite what you might say, Linux India was, and continues to be, the de facto umbrella for LUGs. Many LUGs in India were born out of Linux India. The fact that representatives from all the known LUGs were invited to participate in the LI-reg mailing list to discuss whether to formalize LI and how the LUGs interacted with LI is proof that LI was considered de facto umbrella for the LUGs.

About organizations like the Bharat Linux Users groups and the informal groups that met in TIFR, IISc and IIT, you are welcome to contribute these pieces of information to the entry.

[edit] More response

Most of the prominent LUGs that are in existence today started off by posting their announcements on the Linux India mailing list. Many of the LUGs that do exist today consider themselves as chapters of ILUG (Indian Linux Users Group). Even the Bangalore Linux User Group initially considered itself a chapter of the ILUG [[1]]. I think we all know why it discontinued as an ILUG chapter.

[edit] Added Administrator and Moderator Info

I believe Thaths was an important contributor to the whole Linux India thing, apart from Arun and KD. I am not sure why there is no mention of him on the page. I have taken the liberty to add his name to the article. Request verification regarding the same.

[edit] Chennai Lug not mentioned ??

why is chennai lug not mentioned about?

From my perspective, that list of LUGs shouldn't even be there. It has no context in the article, some of those links are dead, some didn't exist during the period being discussed. Someone added that list in November, but I think it should be removed. One could provide a link to one of the many LUG lists on the web if needed (Fred's comes to mind). Achitnis (talk) 15:32, 23 December 2007 (UTC)