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Austrian free software and GNU/Linux users have to unite
There is a free software (and GNU/Linux) community here in Austria, but there is still one main problem with that community: There is no organization.
A few user groups exist, but not everywhere. For example, in the state I’m living, Carinthia, there is no ‘real’ GNU/Linux user group. There does however exist a message board, but it is only used by a few people and I’m quite sure there are more GNU/Linux users around here. Everything looks pretty unorganised.
Having a look at the nation-wide organisation I also have to admit that it is rather non-existant. There is no main-entity uniting all users and usergroups. In my opinion something like that would make sense. The bigger the group is, the easier it is to get heard by the public and the chances that someone else in that group can help you with a specific problem is also higher.
In my opinion the sadest thing is, that when I asked for other Carinthian Linux users on a mailing list belonging to the "Linux User Group Austria", which should probably rather be called "Linux User Group Vienna", I got only one answer. And that within two days.
There is need for organisation here – there is need to get the users and usergroups united. But how to get them united if you don’t even know, but still hope, that people with similar views and interests exist near you?
So if you are reading this, are living somewhere in Carinthia/Austria and feel like helping to form a usergroup here or help uniting Austrian users, give me a shout via email: sp at fsfe dot org