[LUAU] Hello - My Name is Scott

[Jim Thompson]

First, I am but one board member.  The following are my views, MOT  
those of the board.  The board hasn't been able to meet and discuss  
future directions because current events are taking precidence.

I have proposed (and the rest of the board has endorsed) the the first  
step is to fill the empty board seats.

This is the only concrete action taken in recent weeks.  While many  
view this as somehow kicking Scott out of HOSEF or stacking the board  
to advance my agenda (accusations that I imagine Scott is quick to  
support), such is not the case.

I view it as important that many heads are involved in a fundamental  
change, such as what I've proposed.

Point in fact, in one of the messages I sent to hosef-managers (which  
Scott chose to block) I invited Scott to "put himself on the list" of  
candidates to fill the two empty board seats. Given his qualification  
and history of servicet it is likely that I would vote to put him on  
the board as well.

The other two board members can verify this if needed.

I don't think the current setup with the Executive Director is  
working, nor is healthy for the organization.

I admire much about Scott, despite recent events, though I feel that  
the friendship we've enjoyed may be beyond repair, and this is  
discouraging.

You should know that I've made no move to remove Scott from HOSEF.

Also, anyone who thinks I've enjoyed the past couple weeks is mistaken.

I'll repeat what I said earlier; you can fix a watch by replacing its  
parts, but replacing parts of HOSEF is unlikely to effect repair of  
what ails it.

To that end, I have also proposed that the mission of HOSEF needs to  
change away from its focus on ecycling and "charity" work.  I honestly  
like the suggestions that the group focus more on business and I'd  
like to add government to that suggestion.

I'm not excited at the though of a LUG, but some kind of local  
'networking' would be great, as Hawaii doesn't seem to have much of  
that.

I'd like to see more Solaris and BSD in the mix.  I'd like to reach  
out to the Apple community (Jordan Hubbard is an acqaintence, and he  
was spun up to speak at TPOSSCON/PFOSSCON this year, though that  
didn't happen.)

I actually arranged for all three speakers for the last PFOSSCON.

After nearly 30 years in the Unix/Linux community, I probably know  
others who would be willing to travel to Hawaii to speak.  Perhaps you  
do too.

I'd like to reach out to honolulu-ciders, and the fledgling local  
Ubuntu groups.  Some cross-polination could be interesting.

I'd like to approach Bishop Estate, OHA, and Kamehameha Schools about  
restarting kuokoa, a proposed Hawaiian language Ubuntu distribution.   
(I've been building contacts on this front for two years now.)

I'd like to see if we can't activate a bit more scientific computing  
at UH. I'm aware of a few small clusters, but none of these seem to  
reach the sophistication of the ones I've used on the mainland.

I'd be very interested in discussions and demonstrations of "greener"  
computing, especially as it leverages the "open" nature of FOSS.  I  
think it possible that computers that use less power could be better  
for the environment than recycling existing machines, simply because  
there wasn't much emphasis on power saving in earlier generation  
chipsets, and we burn oil here for nearly every kilowatt, and will  
continue to do so for many years.

I think recycling and HOSEF are not compatible.  Touching hardware  
isn't scalable, making copies of software (distros, c++ source code,  
bash and perl scripts, etc), is and is as well more appropriate for an  
organization  of HOSEF's size and financial resources.

I'd like to sit on a board of equals, one that isn't constrained by or  
subject to the force of one personality.  I'm not fond of cults, and  
don't wish to spend my time or money on one. To be clear, I don't want  
to be the cult leader, either.  I view the board seat I hold as being  
of service to the organization and its membership.

I'd like to hear your ideas as well.

Again, I'm one person. I have no interest in advancing only my agenda.  
It should be your group too.

That's about as much thumbing as I can stand (on the phone) for now.  
Hopefully it can serve as a start of the type of discussion I'd like  
to see.

Jim

On Mar 26, 2008, at 6:57 PM, "Dave Burns" <tburns at hawaii.edu> wrote:

>>> what is the "right" alternative you propose instead?
>>
>> A fundamental refocusing of HOSEF away from eWaste and back to
>> advocacy and education about Free and Open Source.
>
> This answer is pretty vague. Vince and I have both asked similar
> questions on the list, which were also dismissed.
>
> HOSEF has just lost a leader, and the board has declared that its
> direction will change in important ways. There are accusations flying
> back and forth. These are blows to the morale of a volunteer-based
> organization. I would have expected the board members to articulate
> clearly what sort of changes they plan to make and to try to keep the
> volunteers up to date and on board. I've seen some energy pointed at
> griping about the past, not so much aimed at the future. Does the
> board have any example of a specific goal or project that they'd like
> to see happen? I do not know anything about their plans, except that
> Scott and e-waste will not be involved.
>
> Dave
> _______________________________________________
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