[kwlug disc.] Corporate/proprietary presentations

[Adam Glauser]

Paul Nijjar wrote:
> How do we feel about commercial product and/or non-FLOSS
> presentations? Did we like them? Did we feel they were appropriate and
> effective for the group? 

I tend to agree with the other posters in that I don't think we need an 
outright ban on these presentations.  I've found some to be interesting.

I like Chris' idea of limiting the number of this type of presentation, 
since I personally find much more of interest in the regular 
presentations.  I'm not sure a specific number per year is necessary at 
this point.

I don't really like the idea of voting on whether a particular vendor's 
presentation is of interest.  How do we know what is an 'acceptable' 
number of interested people?  What about people who have to miss that 
meeting?  I would suggest that we allow presentations on a first come, 
first served basis, and people can vote with their feet.

As long as the fact that it is a vendor presentation should be very 
clear in the announcement, and the vendor can come up with some 
reasonable connection to Linux or FLOSS in general, then people can make 
a decision about whether or not they want to take part.

As for what constitutes a 'reasonable connection', I'm happy to leave it 
up to whomever is approached by the vendor.  If they are unsure, then 
perhaps a post to the discussion list is the way to decide?