Quoting Chuck Cole (cncole at earthlink.net): > We are NOT strapped: we just haven't tried much and now are ignoring other > immediate offers. Really? Since Clay and/or I setup installfest, you must know something we don't. What other immediate offers are being ignored? Only other offer was St. Thomas and I do not think you have all the details. Unless something changed in the last couple of days. > Wrong ideas about "educational standards": some of the issues are whether > TCLUG folk are the type/quality that a business might hire for serious > technical stuff, or whether they are categorically a hobbyist group with at > most non-degree technician skills... on the average and the goal. To > welcome non-degreed folks from anywhere is fine, but to indicate that the > ceiling is no higher than vo-tech, and off the academic track for > professional skills (state regs indicate what "professional" means, and in > engineering cases it is specific about having a degree). Bah! Your attitude sucks. Your elitist attitude will do more harm to linux then any of these else. > Meeting at a business does not reduce learning or technical excellence. > Suffice to say that unix came from Bell Labs, a business, and that the best > paying software/IT jobs are in high tech businesses here in town. I think > you are grossly wrong in that idea, but the life choices are yours, of > course. In general, competent people are paid for what they can do, and > high tech businesses pay to hire, support, and develop education in many > ways. Target (et al) might not. Meeting -anywhere- is good. If a porn site offered huge bandwidth for linux iso images, do you have a problem using that site to get the files? Personally, I'd leech away. > Truck driving and department store PC repair is great, but it doesn't > satisfy the state licensing regs for what "professional" engineering > requires, nor does it add to a resume when seeking a professional caliber > job. Of course, it is an advancing gateway into "the business" for some, > but my point is the tougher image one about the implied ceilings on > education and average levels of education. Not being able or not seeking to > get business sponsors is a direct indication that TCLUG may have no business > value or relevance for its kind of learning and participation. Some here > may care a great deal about that implication. And some may not care at all. I hope tclug never seeks to get direct business sponsorship. It's a community of users, for the users, by the users. "Angel" sponsorship (much like Angel investors) of tclug is always welcome. -- Bob Tanner <tanner at real-time.com> | Phone : (952)943-8700 http://www.mn-linux.org, Minnesota, Linux | Fax : (952)943-8500 http://www.tcwug.org, Minnesota, Wireless | Coding isn't a crime. Fingerprint: 02E0 2734 A1A1 DBA1 0E15 623D 0036 7327 93D9 7DA3