I've been trying hard to stay out of this but who said he could resist everything but temptation (Oscar Wilde?).
I'm not going to quote from Colin's posts or the replies.
Colin makes some good and valid points that I think we would mostly accept and agree with. My impression, after being involved with the group myself for a year, is that he's very much pushing at an open door (no pun intended :o) ). I think a lot of ALUG participants would agree with him entirely but the problem is they have lives already.
Someone made the point that we're not the traditional type of club or group or whatever, and I would also agree with that. Like the open source software movement, my impression is that ALUG is a sort of open group. People contribute to the activities that interest them most and (the killer this) that they can spare the time for. Like open source software where there are loads of projects I would love to get involved in, there are loads of ALUG ideas I'd like to pick up on and run with. Trouble is the time demands are likely to mean not getting any sleep within my own lifetime. Just finding the time to get to meetings is a real problem for me. How MJR et. al. manage to do all that they do for ALUG is completely beyond me. Rispek (as Ali Gee would say :o) )
Actually the analogy with OSS works well here. Go to any mailing list for an OS project and (if it's a popular one) there's a high level of discussion going on. Only a small fraction of the ideas generated actualy gets into the software because the people who can spare the time to actively participate have to be selective. As someone who has been writing software professionally for 30 years all I can say is that I am vary impressed with the engineering quality of the OS software code I have looked at and it looks like the process works (well for software anyway :o) ).
What seems to happen within ALUG is that every now and then an idea is raised that interests someone enough for them to do something about it. Because of the time and cost demands these are usually fairly small in scope.
So, Colin, yes we do talk a lot and do a little. That's not [only? :o) ] because we're disorganised or out of touch but mostly because there's not enough hours in the day. What you propose sounds great and no doubt, if properly implemented, would have a lot of impact. But we're not the sort of monolithic centrally controlled organisation that can implement that sort of thing. The single (and unwritten) rule in ALUG is "It won't happen unless you make it happen." and that means participating not just being involved.
I see those of us that want to spread the word according to Linus and Richard acting more as a sort of guerrilla group looking for quick hits that give a reasonable return for a small investment. Personally my motivation is more selfish. I'm not that interested in spreading The Word. I use OS software because in my experience it tends to be better engineered than most. Also I can look under the bonnet to see how it works if I want to. In short its one of the most fun things I've done with my clothes on. If I can raise its profile and make others aware of its benefits and attractions then I will, but I'm not on a crusade to rule the world and if other people are content to carry on using proprietary software without question... well, it's a free country... well freeish!! :o)
However I suspect that simply by raising this issue and making the points you have, that someone on the list will feel sufficiently inspired to do something. It's likely to be somewhat smaller in scope than your original idea but that's how it seems to work. Of course, as the person who started the ball rolling, you will be expected to be a major contributor ;o)
Good grief it's half past midnight!! I must get to bed.
Keith