Adecvax.182
net.general
utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!aps
Mon Mar  8 12:23:38 1982
Usenix and /usr/group
Reliable sources in the upper echelon of Usenix say that there is a
move to combine the next Usenix meeting (Boston) with a meeting of
the organization of /usr/group.  One half the profits, one half of
the vendor exhibition space, and (more importantly) one half of the
presentation time will be available to /usr/group.  It is my under-
standing that /usr/group is composed of and geared toward the
commercial users of UNIX, as well as the vendors of UNIX.  It is my
feeling that Usenix is (should be) composed of and geared to the
more technical UNIX types.  Reading the last few issues of the /usr\
/group news letter, commUNIXations, clearly indicates to me a
commercial or should I say, the non-technical nature of the organization.

Usenix formed from the original UNIX "hackers" get-together's and has had
to take a lot of care and effort to be fair to the vendors of hardware
and software and yet, still remain basically technical in nature.  I
do not mean to say that /usr/group has no value to the general member
of Usenix, but I do mean to say that I do not want to reduce the amount
of technical presentations that I am able to see.  We all saw at Usenix
in Santa Monica that the schedule was tight; 8:30AM to 5:00PM.  Eight
thirty in the morning!!  Few hackers see that time on a clock unless
they did not turn the night before.

The standard for Usenix up till now has been that there is one day for
a Software Tools conference (usually a Tuesday), then three days for the
Usenix UNIX Users Meeting (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday).  The current
plans for the Boston combined meeting is that there will be the same
four days for the entire proceedings; Software Tools, Usenix, and /usr\
/group.  Another consideration is the attendance.  It is hard now with
1000 people at the conference (the Berkeley UNIX birds-of-a-feathers
(BOF) meeting probably had two to three hundred people jammed into this
little room)!  A forty to fifty percent increase in the conference
attendance will make things more difficult, still.

Something that bothers me almost as much is the fact that our (Usenix)
current board decided to enter into this arrangement with the governing
body of /usr/group without consulting the general membership of Usenix.
I, for one, think that they over stepped their powers.

Are there other opinions?  Am I crazy/off the wall (regarding these
issues; don't be general!)  Can something be done about it?

                       Armando Stettner
                       A UNIX (ab)user
                       decvax!aps



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