Newsgroups: comp.org.usenix
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: suggestions for future conferences
Message-ID: <1989Feb9.210123.19047@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <8902090223.AA01916@decwrl.dec.com>
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 89 21:01:23 GMT

In article <8902090223.AA01916@decwrl.dec.com> devine@cookie.dec.com (Bob Devine) writes:
>1. Multiple tracks for the main session.
>   I was as the first part of the discussion of this issue at the
>   Board of Directors BOF, but I couldn't stay around long enough
>   to give my opinion.  It seems silly that there are multiple,
>   parallel tutorials and multiple BOFs but only a single
>   thread for the main session...

I didn't make the Board meeting at all, but speaking as a member of the
Program Committee, we'd have been happy to go to parallel tracks if there
had been enough decent submissions.  There weren't; there were barely
enough for a single track.

>4. Open up the conferences to more than Unix.  This might be a
>   heretical statement.  But, many sites have quite a mixture of
>   systems.  Topics could be on how to manage mixed-computer sites.
>   Or on how run different OSs on the same network...

Again, speaking as a Program Committee member, we only rejected one
otherwise-decent paper for having absolutely nothing to do with Unix.
We'd have been happy to see papers on mixed environments.  Usenix can't
put such papers in the program unless people submit them.
-- 
Allegedly heard aboard Mir: "A |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
toast to comrade Van Allen!!"  | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu