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<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">On Friday, September 13th, WPLUG will hold an 8:00 p.m. Birds of a Feather social gathering at <a href="http://www.ohiolinux.org/"><span style=" text-decoration: underline; color:#006e28;">Ohio Linux Fest</span></a> entitled "Rethinking LUGs." I've attached the complete schedule for BoF events for your reference.</p>
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<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">In the old days, LUGs served very specific, very important needs in the community. Linux wasn't nearly as easy to set up as it is today, and you couldn't just hop on the Internet and find solutions to your problems. LUGs helped people get started and keep going.</p>
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<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">Those roles haven't kept up with the times, though. Almost anyone can burn an Ubuntu CD and follow the instructions, and there's no shortage of support resources on the Internet: forums, IRC chat, mailing lists, and even person-to-person if you know the right people. </p>
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<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">When commonly-used software becomes outdated, it's often replaced with something better that includes backward compatibility so users can keep the old while moving toward the new. That's what we on the board think LUGs could do - remain available for support, but get started with exciting new projects that address today's areas of need in the open source community.</p>
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<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">If you'll be at OLF, we hope you'll stop by! If you can't come but have ideas for what we could discuss, feel free to email them to me or Joe and we'll do our best to bring them up.</p>
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<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">To submit anonymous feedback, you can send me a <a href="https://bitmessage.org/"><span style=" text-decoration: underline; color:#006e28;">BitMessage</span></a> at BM-2DARH85HXrgqmMPCCgUCNWZQdwEcoNeiwu</p>
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<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">--</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><span style=" font-weight:600;">Justin S. Smith</span></p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">Vice chair/secretary, WPLUG Board of Directors</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><a href="http://www.wplug.org "><span style=" text-decoration: underline; color:#006e28;">http://www.wplug.org</span></a> </p>
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<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><span style=" color:#a0a0a0;">"Isn't it ironic that the proprietary software developers call us communists? We are the ones who have provided for a free market, where they allow only monopoly."</span></p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><span style=" color:#a0a0a0;">-Richard Stallman</span></p></body></html>