[kwlug-disc] Linux Association Canada membership

[Jeff Smith]

Somebody fetch my dart gun before he gets online...

On July 6, 2026 9:27:09 p.m. EDT, Jason Eckert <jason.eckert at gmail.com> wrote:
>They let members write blog posts?
>Finally, somewhere to publish my 6,000-word defense of ed as the one true
>editor.
>Or to promote engagement, I could post something along the lines of
>'Wayland was a Mistake' or 'Systemd: A Love Story' and watch the servers
>melt.
>I'm definitely signing up...
>
>On Mon, 6 Jul 2026 at 16:37, Doug Moen <doug at moens.org> wrote:
>
>> Okay. I decided to take one for the team, and signed up as a (free)
>> Community member of LinuxAssociation.ca.
>>
>> I now have unlocked the following superpowers:
>> • I opted in to the member newsletter.
>> • I can write and post articles on the member blog. So far, 1 post by
>> Frank.
>> • I can participate in the forum. So far 5 posts by Andre, 1 reply by
>> Jason.
>> • “Invitations to public webinars and events”
>> • There is a phone app for members that I could install, with push
>> notifications.
>> • There is an opt-in online membership directory, which I added myself to.
>> There are now 10 public members, of whom 7 are staff.
>>
>> The forum and member blog are generally readable, but you must log in to
>> post stuff. And they need my email to send me news & updates. Quite
>> reasonable.
>>
>> You can also get a paid membership, which supports the Association and
>> provides voting rights and eligibility for committees and working groups.
>> Again, this is reasonable.
>>
>> The paid tiers are: $10 student, $25 individual, $75 professional, per
>> year.
>> There are some additional perqs for paid members which I am dubious about.
>>
>> So far, I find no definition of “Premium member”, or any way to access
>> this by providing my “KWLUG membership ID”, whatever that is. Don't worry,
>> Paul, I'm not too concerned about this.
>>
>> Doug.
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 6, 2026, at 5:07 PM, Paul Nijjar via kwlug-disc wrote:
>> > At the risk of causing a schism that tears KWLUG apart, I responded to
>> > Andre and said KWLUG could be listed as a member. I know that not
>> > everybody is on board with this but I am hoping we can all live with
>> > the decision.
>> >
>> > In response, Andre made the following benefits available:
>> >
>> > - KWLUG members (what is a KWLUG member?) can become Premium members
>> >   of the Linux Association of Canada free of charge
>> > - KWLUG can become an "official LAC Chapter", whatever that means
>> >
>> > At this point I don't anticipate us becoming an official chapter. The
>> > other offer is open to whomever reads this thread, I guess.
>> >
>> > - Paul
>> >
>> >
>> > On Thu, Jun 25, 2026 at 07:31:48PM +0000, Doug Moen wrote:
>> >> Linux Association of Canada is now a registered non-profit with 3
>> people on the board of directors, so it is not a one-man show at this point.
>> >>
>> >> There's a lot of activity on their web site.
>> >>
>> >> Their Canadian Open Source Library has a writeup on a tech news site:
>> >>
>> >>
>> https://betakit.com/linux-association-of-canada-launches-national-open-source-library/
>> >>
>> >> The Linux Association of Canada has launched an open-source library it
>> says will support digital sovereignty in Canada. The library was launched
>> on June 2, with the intent of bolstering Canadian access to digitally
>> sovereign, open-source software. The organization is accepting entries from
>> anyone as long as the projects are open source—meaning software that is
>> open for any user to access, modify, or distribute for free—and were
>> founded or mainly developed in Canada. “With everything that’s happening in
>> the world right now … it would be a good thing if we in Canada would regain
>> our digital sovereignty back,” Duttmann said. “One step in that direction
>> is using software that is created here, that’s out of Canada.”
>> >>
>> >> So that's interesting. 315 Canadian FOSS projects listed so far:
>> >> https://www.linuxassociation.ca/library.php
>> >>
>> >> Since someone asked if he is Mennonite, I found that Andre moved to
>> Canada in 2014, from Germany, and was or maybe still is a truck driver.
>> >> https://siemenstransport.com/assets/testimonials.pdf
>> >>
>> >> Doug.
>> >>
>> >> On Thu, Jun 25, 2026, at 4:29 PM, Steve Izma wrote:
>> >> > On Thu, Jun 25, 2026 at 10:02:12AM -0600, Ron Singh wrote:
>> >> >> Subject: Re: [kwlug-disc] Linux Association Canada membership
>> >> >>
>> >> >> In the meantime, I will see if I can do a tele call or a vid
>> >> >> call with Andre to get a feel for where he is at.
>> >> >
>> >> > Good idea. And ask if he's Mennonite. Not a rarity for
>> >> > Saskatchewan.
>> >> >
>> >> >    -- Steve
>> >> >
>> >> > --
>> >> > Steve Izma
>> >> > -
>> >> > Home: 35 Locust St., Kitchener, Ontario, Canada  N2H 1W6
>> >> > E-mail: sizma at golden.net  home: 519-745-1313 cell: 519-998-2684
>> >> >
>> >> > ==
>> >> > The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best – and
>> >> > therefore never scrutinize or question.
>> >> >     -- Stephen Jay Gould, *Full House: The Spread of Excellence
>> >> >        from Plato to Darwin*, 1996
>> >> >
>> >> > _______________________________________________
>> >> > kwlug-disc mailing list
>> >> > To unsubscribe, send an email to kwlug-disc-leave at kwlug.org
>> >> > with the subject "unsubscribe", or email
>> >> > kwlug-disc-owner at kwlug.org to contact a human being.
>> >>
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >> kwlug-disc mailing list
>> >> To unsubscribe, send an email to kwlug-disc-leave at kwlug.org
>> >> with the subject "unsubscribe", or email
>> >> kwlug-disc-owner at kwlug.org to contact a human being.
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > kwlug-disc mailing list
>> > To unsubscribe, send an email to kwlug-disc-leave at kwlug.org
>> > with the subject "unsubscribe", or email
>> > kwlug-disc-owner at kwlug.org to contact a human being.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> kwlug-disc mailing list
>> To unsubscribe, send an email to kwlug-disc-leave at kwlug.org
>> with the subject "unsubscribe", or email
>> kwlug-disc-owner at kwlug.org to contact a human being.
>>