Group: Manchester/2008-12-08/Minutes

Manchester Free Software Minutes

19:00, Monday 8th December 2008

Attendance: Simon, Dave, Tim, Lucy, Michael, Matt M
Apologies: None

Last Meeting

The minutes of the last meeting on 10th November 2008 were read and approved.

Announcements

It was announced that Matt has been appointed the new treasurer.

Room booking

Lucy announced that she had spoken to David Edwards at the MDDA, who is currently confirming the dates for MFS meetings up until June. Lucy expects David to get back to us within the net week.

Speakers

Lucy announced that Steven Flower, from substance.coop, has agreed to speak about Plings in May.

Tim mentioned that he has a number of ideas for future speakers, including someone from Microsoft that he met at the recent Liverpool Barcamp.

Michael pointed out that it would be nice to have workshops or tutorials at some future meetings.

Dave suggested that we should invite someone from the mono or Moonlight projects to give us a talk.

ACTION: Tim to update the wiki with speaker suggestions.
ACTION: Tim to contact someone at Microsoft to give a talk.
ACTION: Dave to contact someone from the mono or Moonlight project to give a talk.

Books

As agreed in the last meeting, Michael emailed Matt Lee to enquire about the progress of the books from the FSF but has not heard a reply.

ACTION: Michael to chase Matt Lee again about the books.

Banking

Lucy announced that she has started filling out the bank account form and handed it over to Matt to complete. Matt has started writing the constitution and will continue it over the next month, Lucy offered to help if required.

ACTION: Matt to finish writing the constitution and business plan.

Marbella Computer Cluster

Michael announced that the Marbella Cafe is unable to continue in its current location after a dispute with the landlord. They are trying to find a new building and are looking at an ex-church in Fallowfield.

Due to the uncertainty surrounding the cafe it was agreed that we should move the computers and put them into safe storage until a new venue is found.

Simon announced that he had set up a ticket system for the computers at the cafe, to better organise the jobs that need to be done.

ACTION: Michael and Tim to move the computers out of the Cafe asap and Michael to store them at his house temporarily.
ACTION: Michael to continue work improving the LTSP setup and create tickets in the new ticket system.

Any other business

As was announced on the list, Manchester Free Software took part in the Arcspace workshop on Saturday 29th November. The outcome was briefly discussed at the meeting. It was agreed that the Arcspace initiative is very exciting and that we'd like to continue to be involved. However, the lack of organisation and planning at the workshop was of slight concern and Dave pointed out that it is always a good idea to agree on exactly what is expected of us before hand.

We agreed to provide an opportunity for an informal keysigning at the next social meeting

Next Meeting

It was agreed that the next admin meeting should take place on Monday 13th January 7pm at The Waterhouse.

Summary of Actions

Michael
ACTION: Michael to chase Matt Lee again about the books.
ACTION: Michael and Tim to move the computers out of the Cafe asap and Michael to store them at his house temporarily.
ACTION: Michael to continue work improving the LTSP setup and create tickets in the new ticket system.

Tim
ACTION: Tim to update the wiki with speaker suggestions.
ACTION: Tim to contact someone at Microsoft to give a talk.

Matt
ACTION: Matt to finish writing the constitution and business plan.

Dave
ACTION: Dave to contact someone from the mono or Moonlight project to give a talk.
ACTION: Dave to continue to try to contact Central Library.