Is bigger better for Linux Australia?

The bigger the better? This may not be the case for Linux Australia (LA), which has grown too big for its own boots and is facing a serious restructuring.

President of LA, Jonathan Oxer, put the future of the organisation to the LA community last week under the topic "Can Linux Australia survive?"

In an online posting, which has become a hot topic, Oxer said LA was in its "teenager stage of development". He described this as somewhere between the original state, which had a sole purpose to organise small conferences, and a fully resourced non-profit organisation for furthering the Linux platform in Australia.

The issue of LA's future survival was first raised at a recent LA committee meeting in Adelaide, where members argued that the current structure of the organisation was unsustainable due to its dependence on donated time by its committee members. As LA grows, this would become too heavy a burden for volunteers.

The proposed restructuring of LA has drummed up speculation on two very different forms: either move back to its roots, scaling back operations to only facilitating the annual Linux.conf.au conferences; or expand into an organisation with a CEO and pyramid-like organisational structure.

Neither option appears satisfactory to Oxer. The first option seems somewhat an admission of defeat; a "fundamental failing of the organisation", he said.

The second option would introduce overheads that would force LA to seek steady financial backing such as corporate sponsorship. Although Oxer made it clear that these were "extreme" examples of what may happen, he said they showed the polarity of the situation. Some milder solutions are being inspected also, such as restructuring the managing committee and its election process.

Despite talk of LA's demise, Oxer said he believed the organisation would survive and he was impressed with the level of discussion over its future.

"There were a lot of very thoughtful and helpful suggestions during the recent debate that have helped me clarify my own thoughts on the matter," he said.

"The debate has shown me above all that people really are passionate not just about Linux but about Linux Australia, and that it's important that we do our very best to help the local Linux community grow and flourish."

Oxer said he believed the LA committee would have an answer for the Linux community as to the direction they intend to take by August.