[opensolaris-summit] [ogb-discuss] My comments (very subjective) on proposed Summit topics

[Jim Grisanzio]

Brandorr wrote:
> On 9/25/07, Darren Reed <Darren.Reed at sun.com> wrote:
>> Heck, maybe we participants should just do that anyway, rather
>> than wait for Sun to work out what it wants to do with OS.o?
> 
> While I understand your frustration at a low level of outside
> contribution, I don't think Sun is to be blamed. I think it stems from
> the fact that Solaris is a mature, formerly proprietary, product. Many
> users of Solaris today don't give a care about any notions of
> community of contribution. (So long as the get what their support
> contracts cover)
> 
> We here at OpenSolaris.org are currently in the process of building a
> community. This community currently exists mostly of Sun employees,
> and a few brave new worlders, and a few excited Solaris customers.
> 
> We are in a bit of a chicken and egg situation. What we need right now
> is more outside manpower, to build the infrastructure to make it
> easier for outside contributers to contribute.
> 
> Right now, one way we can address this, is to do outreach. Currently
> this is on the agenda for our next user group meeting:



This is a very nice list below. Perhaps you can post these in Advocacy? 
I'm sure there are many contribution docs within various community 
groups and projects, but here are two general contribution docs:

   http://opensolaris.org/os/community/advocacy/help/
   http://opensolaris.org/os/communities/participation/

Jim


> Get involved:
> ------------------
> - Mentoring - We are looking at starting a new mentoring program. We
> are looking for Seniors that would be interested in mentoring Juniors.
> (Developers and sysadmins). Please email Brian Gupta
> (brandorr at opensolaris.org) if you are interested.
> - The OpenSolaris.org Systems administration Community Group is
> looking to expand membership.
> syadmin-discuss-subscribe at opensolaris.org
> - Volunteering to help build a new OpenSolaris user portal, as well as
> an NYOSUG.org website. (email Brian Gupta (brandorr at opensolaris.org)
> if you are interested in either.)
> - We will be launching/announcing a virtual development lab next
> month, that will allow anyone who is interested in developing
> OpenSolaris or porting open source apps to OpenSolaris, to gain free
> access to VMWare ESX Virtual Machines. Let Brian Gupta
> (brandorr at opensolaris.org) know if you are interested
> in either helping administer ESX, or if you want access to a VM. (It's
> not setup yet).
> - We can use help planning these UG meetings. Mail Isaac or Brian Gupta
> "Isaac Rozenfeld - NEW YORK" <Isaac.Rozenfeld at sun.com>, Brian Gupta
> (brandorr at opensolaris.org)
> - Brian Gupta (brandorr at opensolaris.org) is going to the first
> OpenSolaris Developers Summit, and will have more to report next
> month.
> (http://www.genunix.org/wiki/index.php?title=OpenSolaris_Summit.)
> - Brian Gupta (brandorr at opensolaris.org) assembled the following new
> user FAQ: assembling:
> http://www.genunix.org/wiki/index.php?title=FAQ_Prototype
> 
> What I would ask each contributing member of OpenSolaris.org, is to
> find at least one other  person that has the ability to contribute,
> and walk them through their first contribution. (We'd double the
> number of contributers over night.
> 
> Also, UserGroups should be actively advertising outside of their own
> users. e.g. - Reach out to Linux and BSD user groups, as well as local
> UNIGROUP, Lisa and SAGE chapters. The goal being to increase the
> number of attendees to your meetings.
> 
> Basically, I feel that by working around the barriers for now, we will
> be able to grow the community enough to remove them down the road.
> (With the added manpower).