Silicon Valley Linux Users Group's last use of Symantec

Regulatory capture is a much better marketing strategy than appealing to the tech community. PCI/HIPAA/etc makes antivirus mandatory, so no need to convince users.

SVLUG's had three generous tentative offers of meeting space, thanks in part to the good folks here. The somewhat bigger problem is SVLUG's staffing, notably its absence. As a member of the Web Team, I've been holding the group together for years after active volunteers found other interests elsewhere and walked away, e.g., Yudhvir Singh Sidhu resigned as Meeting Coordinator after doing a terrific job for years, and nobody took his place. This past January, I gave the group a heads-up that the March 2nd speaker had cancelled but I was going to be on the Pacific Ocean for a month so someone else would have to fill the vacancy. I returned in late February and found nobody had even tried, and March's meeting had to be cancelled.

SVLUG hasn't had elected officers since 2009, when the last President and VP's terms expired. Nominations were open at the December 2nd, 2009 meeting, but nobody wished to be a candidate.

I'm certainly not faulting people for having other interests. These things happen. (I myself always stressed that I was unwilling to run SVLUG because I already run another LUG, CABAL.) I suspect that if speakers show an interest in giving talks, one of the kind offers will be accepted, but the basic institutional problem within the group is a real one.