Do LUGs Still Matter?

Joe Barr, writing for NewsForge asks, "Do LUGs still matter? Back in the day, LUGs were rowdy, popular, and highly contagious centers for aficionados of Linux. Install fests were a big deal. Members came from all walks of life, united only by a penchant for something new and cool, and a chance to place a bet on the impossible notion of world domination by an operating system hacked together by a ragtag bunch of students on the Internet. It's different today. Linux is now mainstream, it's being spread by slick corporate marketing, and with most distros, installation is a snap. So the question arises, do LUGs still matter?"

Esotericism

[(1+-sqrt(5))*(2**-1)]

There's a double entendre here, by the way: Lesbians Until Graduation is a well-known acronym at certain artsy high schools where the cock-ratio favors Y-chromosometes.

As far as user groups are concerned, however, their relevance is directly proportional to Linux' esotericism: as it becomes mainstream, every office and class will become a spontaneous LUG.

Yes!

[Anonymous Coward]

LUGs are still vital! There is plenty going on at my local lug. Things haven't really changed. There is a lot of knowledge transfer and a lot of fun. We still do install fests, although now it is usually a mix of complete newbies and people with really strange install issues that are indeed a challenge to crack.

In some ways, LUGs are one of the only places for someone new to get training and learn without spending thousands on classes. They also serve as a great place to meet fellow enthusiasts.

There is plenty of activity going on on the bleeding edge as well and this makes for great meeting presentations.

LUGs don't matter to home users anymore...

[MMC Monster]

I agree with the article that LUGs mattered in the dark days of Linux, when partitioning the hard drive and setting up lilo were done with your fingers crossed.

Now, with near-automated installs of most distributions, the average user who wants linux just has to pop in the CD and answer some (mostly easy) questions.

The LUGs have been supplanted by forums for users. Why wait until a LUG meeting to ask a question or trouble shoot a problem when you can ask it on your distribution's forums and get a knowledgeable answer in a fairly reasonable time period.

Most distributions have very end user friendly forums. If people on the forums can't help there's always google as a backup.

I became aware of Linux

[p0]

... through a LUG gathering some years back. Now I'm a sysadmin in an ISP running Linux. Yap they did matter back then and they actually worked as far as I am concerned. As for now, a little change of LUG policies can make them matter to make what Linux is still not today: an OS WELL KNOWN by regular people.

Lugs are groovey.

[Keaster]

Being a n00b it was nice to have a place to go that gave you face time with enthusiasts who were enthusiastic to help and also, from my personal experience, expect to be asked n00b questions. You also get exposure to different views first hand, whereas when just parsing forums you are generally exposed to what you are looking for, at a LUG you may be exposed to something you had never considered and later use. Not to mention I have never been invited to a WUG ... Also, my local lug is located by a great bar and gives me an excuse to tell my wife .... I mean ... I like going to the LUG, it is fun.

LUGs do matter ...

[phoxix]

Here is why:

Networking. And I'm not talking about the TCP/IP kind. I'm talking about meeting each other, getting to know other linux professionals and people of the tech community. Instead of overly peppered resumes with mindless certifications, you get to meet people who actually can talk about the technologies, the issues, etc. You should see the number of head-hunters, hiring agencies and etc that come to a LUG meeting with the hopes of meeting real intelligence. (Recently my LUG (NYLUG [nylug.org]) and Google threw a big party at a fancy restaurant in Manhattan in an attempt to attract the tech community, but python developers in particular. Google's Alex Martelli was the speaker (you python guys should know him)).

Additionally, networking doesn't just mean the kind that gets consultants hired and what not. I'm talking about building a community. Letting people meet new people and become friends. Every time our LUG has a meeting, you can always see various circle of "LUG-friends" get together and talk amongst themselves. Its brilliant. At a LUG meeting you aren't talking to someone overly concerned about mindless shit like the latest Pop music star, but people who take to the same issues that matter greatly to yourself (DRM, DMCA, kernel stability, PHP security, source compilations, etc). Its quite a treat to be able to sit down and have a beer with someone else who actually knows what a buffer-overflow is.

LUG's are also are great because they can tap in from a pool of talent to get a single effort going. The president of my LUG is also one hell of a salesman. His ability to be a people person is like no other, and so we get great speakers all the time (Ie: Google, XenSource, Novell, Chris DiBona, etc). But our president isn't a super technical guy, so we leave server management to someone else. We also leave mailing list management to another guy, who is incredibly level-headed and thus handles flame-fest situations very well. For an individual to do all of the above would be nearly impossible. A group of people OTOH, can do this very well without sucking up a too much of a single person.

While Linux isn't brand spanking new, it does not mean LUGs are not useful anymore. It means they've adapted, re-focused their energies, and aim for a new direction. Gone are the days where many LUG presentations were introductions about the technology. Today we talk about new technology, but more important what you can do with this technology. (IE: Xen virtualization.)

This January is our LUG's 7th year birthday. And we are strong as we have ever been.

Sunny Dubey

Officer
New York Linux User's Group

Sure

[lagerbottom]

The Central PA LUG [cplug.net] is still going strong. I have only been a member for about 3 years, and it has changed a lot in that time. However, it is still a relevent club. There are more new users then ever before (mostly, I assume, related to the lower barrier for entry and growing popularity). Those users still want help with networking and installation etc. The other reason I believe that our LUG has remained active though is that the guy [openthought.org] who runs the show is a die hard. For a LUG to remain strong it takes a leader who really wants to make it a success.

What are you smoking?

[stry_cat]

Linux is now mainstream, it's being spread by slick corporate marketing, and with most distros, installation is a snap.

Seriously what are you smoking? Linux is not mainstream. In a company with over 4000 employees, I'm the only one using Linux. Outside of server admins most people don't even know what it is. The only slick corp marketing is found in geek mags.

As for the "do LUGs matter" question. I went to one once. It was the biggest waste of time. Some idiot talked about doing stupid things all the while running Gnome as root. Talk about stupid, he couldn't even read the warning saying don't run Gnome as root. The LUG aparently died a year later. To me they don't matter.

They may not, but

[pupeno]

LUGs may not matter, but, I see most of LUGs turning into something that matters much more:

Free Software User Groups

or FSUGs.

Those groups can promote free software on proprietary platforms (such as firefox and open office on windows), generally as a transitory stage to reach a free platform. Various free platforms are embraced: GNU/Linux, *BSD and why not GNU (that is, with HURD).

Here, the local LUG is very important and they make huge events each year bringing thousands of people to learn about free software, there's no marketing of any company that can replace that.

Re:Oslo PILS and Linux User Group

[koreaman]

That's because Oslo is cooler than everything, and it's fundamentally impossible to discuss the rest of the uninteresting, uninspiring world in terms of Oslo.

Oslo's part of Norway. Scandinavia is just by default cool. Score one for Norway (and Oslo)
Oslo is where Opera comes from. I'd have to be using some less awesome browser if it weren't for Oslo. Oslo is damn cold, here I am having to use my air conditioner on Christmas Day.

There are many more reasons that Oslo rules, these are just a few.

Signed,
Uman, who had nothing better to post

Some do, some don't...

[farrellj]

Over at the Ottawa Canada LUG, (OCLUG), most of the discussion is about the politics of the upcomming election...but not about technology, or Linux, or anything like that. Some people try and make a go of it, but unless it get's an overhaul soon, I will be writing it off. :-(

ttyl
          Farrell

LUGs are like distros

[epcraig]

The whole point of Free Software is to distribute the knowledge of how to make a computer work to computer users.
When people disagree about how to use computers, they may split whatever organization they have to do this a different way,
Both sides of a fork win by involving new users in whatever obsessions they share.
It's all a plot, well, a bunch of plots really, to make users, not all, but enough, into developers.
Whether you're speaking of software, news sites, blogs, email lists, or LUGs, with Open Source forks are more often than not good things for Free Software, including the fork between Free Software and Open Source.
Any fork produces new developers, and more ways of doing neat things.
What I don't understand is why there are no Open Office User Groups.

bringing my kid to one

[falkryn]

I've been using linux for a few years now, and am a sys admin in likewise at a uni. That said, apart from trying to co-found one at the college I went to (didn't really pan out to much while I was there), I'd never been to a LUG.

Just recently however I started attending the one in my city, to bring my oldest there (7 years old). It's really wonderful, gives us some nice time together, and exposes him to linux and part of linux culture. After the first time (which was an installfest, where some fellow there let him play a bunch of linux games on his box) my son asks about going ahead of time and looks forward to it. If something less than interesting for a seven year old is being discussed, I just bring my lappie with free games on it anyhow to keep him entertained (loves wesnoth). That and the the free food of course ;-)

LUGs are the last bastion of computer user groups

[Dano]

There are no other *user* groups in our city than our LUG. At one time we had old-school groups just like any other city, but once PCs were no longer rocket science/magic to the general public, those groups died out.

Our LUG thrives today because it's changed to what TFA talked about - a professional/social/educational group where the local techies and admins can get together and talk tech vs. just pat asses and shake hands like the other "professional" technology groups. We actually learn and do things relevant to the places we live and work.

BisManLUG
http://www.bismanlug.org [bismanlug.org]

Re:Do they still matter?

[slazzy]

Since linux is becoming the mainstream, I think we'll see more specific types of LUGs develop, such as gaming and programming.

I Stopped Going to my local LUG years ago.

[Spicerun]

My local LUG had a lot of potential (btw, I deliberately did not say which LUG it is that I am talking about; they wouldn't recognize themselves anyhow), but it became very apparent to me that this LUG was a good guide on how not to run a LUG. Things this LUG did was to:

1. Become a Tax-Free Non-Profit Organization in order to be a Cheapbytes or Linux Central Disk Reseller (heaven forbid they burn their own disks and give some proceeds to linuxiso.org).

2. When given a choice between involving the members to write or document a nice Linux item for the community, or to send their users to pay a small fortune for a professional 'sponsor' to make a program, they send their users over to pay a 'sponsor' to do it for them...after all, why reinvent the wheel? Even if it does teach a user anything? Answer: They think that the more money the 'sponsor' makes, the more the 'sponsor' may throw back their way. From what I've seen, it hasn't worked out that way.

3. Model themselves after the local PC User's group, the group of people who seek out what new gadget or gizmo that can be BOUGHT for the machine, rather than to teach anyone how to get full use out of their machine that they've already got, AND get educated enough to find that they don't need the new gizmos or gadgets since it is already built in.

4. Make fun of other LUGs who actually try to do something to promote Linux. ie-the Kansas City LUG trying to hold a big Linux expo...my local LUG ridiculed them. Personally I salute the Kansas City LUG for holding an event like that (successful or not)...it is much more than my local LUG would ever consider.

--Nah, I get more benefits from my #linuxfriends IRC channel than I do from my local LUG.

LUGs for InstallFest: success!

[dulles]

I ran an install-fest at Cornell Univ. last semester, and it was a huge success. We distributed something on the order of 300 CDs, and helped out a huge number of folks with one-on-one install/configure walkthroughs, along with various group tutorials and presentations. A big success.

Why? Because folks who have any sort of trepidation re Linux want personal attention and communication. The Cornell Student LUG filled up with e-mails soon thereafter because people who installed and had questions wanted help from their community, not just from the anonymous faces on linuxquestions.org, etc. We gave everybody several links to sources of information/help, such as linuxquestions.org, google, our LUG, etc., and I think many folks opted for the LUG because of that sense of personal attention and help from the community that got you up-and-running.

So yes, LUGs are good for new-comers, and InstallFests take a /huge/ amount of pressure of those who have worrisome fears about what this might do to their system.

Re:They're good

[Kadin2048]

Just out of curiosity, where are you located?

I have never heard of a LUG (or Mac User Group, which is the other OS I use) in my area, although if there was an active one I'd probably join. That begs the question -- where and how do people find out about LUGs in their area, and how many users are muddling along (as I am) on their own, wishing they knew more people in their local area who also used Linux that were willing to help them?