Re: [TUHS] Usenix: no official Unix 50th celebration, apparently

["Theodore Y. Ts'o" <tytso@mit.edu>]

On Sun, Aug 26, 2018 at 12:47:45PM +1000, Dave Horsfall wrote:
> On Sun, 26 Aug 2018, Warren Toomey wrote:
> 
> > Hi all, I've just heard that the Usenixh board of directors do not want
> > to explicitly celebrate the 50th anniversary of Unix.
> 
> What on earth are they smoking?  Or is it something in the water?

Reading between lines from Clem's message, I wonder if it is a money
issue?  Usenix has become very academic focused, and for better or for
worse the Linux Foundation has provided many conference facilitation
services for various industry initiatives that go beyond Linux (e.g.,
software defined networking, RISC-V, etc.)  As a result Usenix might
not have the resources that it did a decade or two ago.

In another reality these industry initiatives might have been
something that Usenix had gotten involved in, and which would have
made it much more relevant to the industry.  Unfortunately, I believe
that there were many "old-time Usenix" folk who felt very threatened
by Linux, and thought that it wasn't sufficiently academic, and didn't
sufficiently acknowledge the debt that was owed to their elders.

The question I would raise is whether some kind of 50th celebration
has to be colocated with Usenix ATC, especially if the Usenix BoD is
not innterested in lending much in the way of financial or staff
support.  For example, maybe something combined with some kind of
fund-raising event held at the Compute History Museum in the Bay Area?

Or perhaps the Linux Foundation might be willing to do a Unix 50th
celebration at their 2019 Open Source Summit event?

It does seem to me that Usenix ought to have the right of first
refusal to host such a celebration, but if the Board isn't willing to
step it up, there are other possibilities that could be explored.

    	     	     	     	       	   - Ted