[luau] Friday night IRC meeting, Linux for Hawaii schools

[tburns at despammed.com]

I'm concerned about this little flame-fest, as I think both sides need each other.

Dan either has so many computers and other resources that he can already cover all Hawaii schools (seems unlikely) or he should want some help from HOSEF because they have so many computers and so much manpower.  Even if he has all the resources he needs, it seems a shame to exclude HOSEF over a personality conflict with one member.

Dan claims to have a lot of connections that HOSEF definitely lacks, so they should want him on board. 

If the two sides spend time trying to discredit each other, both sides will become side-tracked  and the project will fail. Hawaii's schools will be the real losers.

What we need is a diplomat to calm the waters and mend the bridges. Unfortunately I don't know who that is.

At the very least, we should not engage in a flame war.  When so much is at stake, it seems to me that the minimum mature thing to do is to try to ignore provokations. If Dan thinks HOSEF is discredited, he's wasting his time emailing about it here unless he wants to find a way to fix the damage. If HOSEF people think Dan lacks credibility, they should ignore him or try to find out more in a non-provokative way.

I urge everyone to drop this whole topic (Dan's group vs. HOSEF) as far as the email list goes. I have a feeling that  none of this would be happening if we had more face-to-face time. 

I urge anyone who knows Dan personally to try to act as peacemaker. Let's not waste time and resources. Let's try to engage each other in a positive way. The importance of this project to Hawaii's schools is what is at stake.

Dave