by Here’s the next-to-last installment of this essay. Remember, most of this was originally written before the decision to launch LOPSA as a stand-alone entity. However, I believe that it all remains relevent as LOPSA plans its first full year of independent operation.
!! Different goals of USENIX and (old)SAGE
USENIX and (old)SAGE are, as are all organizations, prisoners of their history. Both were born out of UNIX technologies, but have always truly served different communities (as defined above). The League of Professional System Administrators (LOPSA) is a new start, and is free to define its own goals.
! USENIX – heritage and values
USENIX has always had a history of strong scholarship, perfectly in tune with its roots in the research and academic communities. The newest, most cutting-edge UNIX advances were almost always introduced in papers at a USENIX conference. From the seminal work on BSD and its fast filesystem and virtual memory, to NSFv4 and using peer-to-peer technologies for faster software builds, USENIX has been the place to see the “latest stuff”. All the major USENIX conferences (Technical, Security, LISA) focus on peer-reviewed technical papers in an academic style. The emphasis is always on papers that “advance the state of the art”, “will stand the test of time”, “make major advances in technology”, and “impact on society”. Papers that are “operational”, or “just plain engineering” are (quite properly) rejected as off-topic.
(This is not speculation. I’ve served on several Program Committees for USENIX conferences including Security and LISA. Those are quotes from other committee members.)
”’To remain true to its core membership and its core values, USENIX must remain faithful to its roots as a society for the research and the development communities of UNIX-related technologies. To do otherwise would be a disservice to its history and members.”’
! (old)SAGE – practical and applied, within USENIX’s limits
SAGE was born out of the operational and engineering communities of USENIX. The original founders were for the most part system administrators who were seeking a place to talk about how to use UNIX to deliver real
services to real customers. The LISA conferences, although focused on system administration, have (as USENIX conferences) continued the emphasis on scholarship and long-term research and development topics. Even at the most practical of the USENIX conferences (LISA), “purely operational” papers are not entirely welcome, although “in the
trenches” Invited Talks are always popular.
”’The tension between the USENIX desire to achieve “great (UNIX) things for posterity” and the SAGE desire to “deliver real services to real people, today, using UNIX and other tools” is at the heart of the fundamental
incompatibility between the two organizations.”’ SAGE took as many steps as it could away from the USENIX model, but remains, at its core, beholden to the USENIX mission, values and history.
! LOPSA – practical and applied, free to set a new direction
LOPSA is in many ways “SAGE 2.0”. It is focused on the mission that SAGE wanted to undertake, but could not as part of USENIX. Since the beginning of the “newSAGE” effort, what is now LOPSA has defined the profession of “system
administrator” much more broadly that USENIX/SAGE ever could, stepping beyond the UNIX-centric USENIX definition. Additionally, LOPSA has chosen to focus on the more practical and less scholarly aspects of the profession, to better serve the engineering and operations communities.
”’LOPSA is free to set its own course, taking its cue from the most successful parts of the SAGE mission, yet not limited by the USENIX emphasis on UNIX technologies.”’