by It was inevitable that USENIX and “newSAGE” (now LOPSA) split in some fashion. The process that started 16 months ago will run to completion, one way or another. If it doesn’t, it will only begin again at some time in the future.
The best we can do is make this transition as painless as possible for the community, and try to ensure that it is a win/win for both organizations.
This isn’t about “good vs. evil”, or “us vs. them”, or “who made the biggest/worst mistake” either.
It’s about differing visions, differing goals, and a difference in the communities.
Hi. My name is Tom, and I’m a system administrator, and I have been for a very long time, about 20 years so far. But more on that later.
I’m also the President of LOPSA, but that’s not what I’m really here to talk about.
Over the past few days, I’ve been asked a lot of questions about this new thing called “LOPSA”. Yeah, lots of people just ask about where the name came from, or make bunny jokes, but I just 🙂 and say “Isn’t it a lovely evening?”.
The other thing people have been asking about is “Why?” There are a few simple answers, and a lot of complex answers, but the themes that run though all the answers are “Because it is time, and because it is needed.”
Unfortunately, sound bite answers like that are really insufficient for difficult problems, no matter what politicians would have us believe. And this really is a more complex problem than most people have realized. I’ll get to the answer(s), but it will take some time. Bear with me.
I’ve been a USENIX member for a very long time, and a SAGE member almost since the beginning. My first UNIX system was V6 on a PDP-11, my first USENIX was San Diego in 1983. My first LISA was Monterey in 1988. I’m still a USENIX (and SAGE) member, and plan to remain a USENIX member for the forseeable future.
I’ve been talking to people much smarter than me, at LISA and USENIX Security, and other places over at least the past five years about the community of system administrators. Through working with law enforcement and academics, I also got a look at “us” from the outside, from very different points of view.
It turns out that the community of system administrators is actually several smaller communities that just happen to be flying in close formation. You know, like “Pumas on Hoverbikes”:/node/98 🙂
And this is why LOPSA, or something like it, had to happen.
Starting earlier this year, I was part of planning for what was supposed to be a calm, measured, well-planned spin out of “newSAGE” from USENIX into a stand-alone non-profit corporation. While planning for that, I had to think a lot about the community of system administrators: who “we” are, where “we” came from, and how “we” got to where we are today, and where “we” might be going.
I started writing an informal “vision, concept of operations, market analysis and business plan” document for the new organization. Nothing more than notes about where we wanted to go, and who we wanted to serve, and what they (probably) wanted from us.
While trying to write this “vision thing” I came to the startling realization that the vision of “newSAGE” is in many ways incompatible with the USENIX model, business, culture and history (and maybe IRS status, too). In fact, this may well be an important reason for some of the tension between USENIX and the former SAGE STC over the past decade. This theme had come out in some conversations over the past few years, but it wasn’t until recently that I realized the depth of the differences.
So, back in September and October, my vision and planning document turned into an essay on “why the USENIX and newSAGE split is inevitable”. Remember, this isn’t about heros and villans, it’s about different, incompatible, yet usually complementary goals.
That’s certainly enough food for thought. I’ll be posting parts of the essay over the next weeks leading up to the LISA conference.
Get a few things straight. I am not saying that “there can be only one”, or that USENIX can’t serve some part of the system administration community (maybe it should), or that the two organizations have to compete, or that sysadmins should join one or the other. I’m just saying that there are some things that USENIX can’t do, some people that it can’t serve, and some services it can’t provide. Not and stay true to the USENIX mission and core values, which are important. There are also some things that a new system administration professional organization can’t do, too, and I’ll talk about those as well.
It may turn out that USENIX and LOPSA find that they need each other in order to serve their communities, and maybe even to survive the changes coming in the industry.
This has certainly gone long enough. Thanks for reading to the end, and stay tuned. I hope to see you at LISA, where we can talk about the community of system administrators.