[H-GEN] OzSearch.

[Brent Wesley]

After seeing the post yesterday I emailed OzSearch and this was the
response.

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Dear Brent:

I must first say that we have generated quite a few enquiries from our
little "freshmeat" posting... I am extremely pleased to see that OzSearch is
on its way to gaining support in the Linux community - I believe this could
potentially be a long-term relationship benefitting all parties involved.

The following text is the same message that was sent to SLUG, LUV, and
Linux.org after they too responded:

OzSearch is interested in helping to spread the word about Linux in any way
possible. Whether that be from having articles written on how OzSearch was
developed on Linux or OzSearch's experience with the reliability and
scalability of a Linux solution, we are all for it. As we see it, it will
only be a short time from now when we see large-scale implementations of
Linux in the enterprise area, and the exposure Linux is currently receiving
and will continue to receive will all contribute to its wide appeal.

OzSearch is also interested in supporting the Linux user groups as we see
organisations such as the one run by you as a key proponent in Linux's
destined success. However, I should tell you that our company is still young
and resources are scarce. This means that we can only play a minor role in
this assistance for the time being.

As such, I want to ask you to provide some ways in which OzSearch can help
your organisation. While we prefer methods of assistance other than purely
financial (simply due to our current high growth situation), we still want
to do as much as possible. Here are some *potential* ideas that we have
thought of on our side. Of course, should they sound appealing, we would
still need to work on the details before being able to commit 100%.

1. OzSearch can offer free web hosting to any Linux users group. The site
will be hosted on the machine currently powering OzSearch.

2. OzSearch can contribute old hardware to Linux users groups as it becomes
available. Unfortunately, as we are a new company and have already made our
IT purchases, I do not believe hardware will become available for another
six or so months.

3. OzSearch will list in its database as many Linux / Australian web sites
as possible. Perhaps a contact at one of the users groups can assist
OzSearch in compiling the URLs (if you have any suggestions, please direct
them to email me), at which point I will have the OzSearch content team
submit the sites into our system. Of course, webmasters of Linux sites can
always submit their sites at OzSearch directly.

4. OzSearch could have some t-shirts printed up for a Linux users group. My
initial suggestion, before it became apparent that Linux users do not pay
club dues, was to say that OzSearch would give away 50-100 t-shirts to the
members that paid their dues first for 1999. I am not sure how a limited
number of t-shirts could be distributed across so many users. Perhaps
frisbees, mouse pads, or stickers may allows us to broaden the scope - any
ideas?

5. OzSearch could sponsor a very inexpensive lunch for a Linux users group
meeting. :)

6. OzSearch is currently building an adserving network in order to place
banner advertisements on a number of web sites. Although this point is quite
commercial in concept, OzSearch could take on a number of Linux web sites as
partners which would result in ads being served on those pages. The bright
side is that the Linux community would receive some ongoing funding from
this route. The bad side... is obviously the ads.

7. This last point is not your regular sponsorship deal, although I
personally believe it would be the greatest possible direction for OzSearch
and could potentially have great results for the Linux community. OzSearch
is currently considering what it would take to make our database more open
in terms of who and how the content editors work on it. As you probably
know, a web directory such as ours is driven by human content editors who
must review each submitted site as well as venture out into the Web looking
for great Australian web sites to add.

Imagine if we were able to have a number of content editors that specialised
in different areas (such as Art, Cricket, etc.) and were able to transfer
that expertise into placing the best sites for their topic into OzSearch.
This concept is very similar to the one developed by GNUhoo (which changed
its name to Newhoo), as they have thousands of Internet editors. We feel
that Linux users are as diverse as they get, and we could provide a custom
area on our site for various Internet editors to take part in our project.

While we are set up through current labor levels to reach our target of
exceeding Yahoo Australia! in terms of the number of web site listings in
the next 3-4 months (20,000 sites), I believe a substantial amount of press
could be generated for OzSearch and its team of specialised editors. It is
conceivable that this system would allow the OzSearch database to grow to 4x
or 5x (80-100,000 sites) that of Yahoo Australia's in the next 6 months. A
way to ensure that the press generated for the editors pertains to Linux is
by making the requirement that to be an editor, you have to be a Linux user
group member. This means that OzSearch and Linux users nation-wide will be
credited for making the largest Australian web directory!


Please consider the points above, and any other ones you can think of.
Recognising that it will be difficult to help all of the user groups, I
would also ask you to suggest a system on how we can choose which group to
help. Should this be based on seniority, location (not my first choice), or
number of users? Are there any other variables you think should be taken
into consideration?

Also, do you have a tight communications network set up with the other users
groups? Perhaps this assistance should be done with all groups
participating, and it is potentially easier for us if you have a network
already setup to leave the notification to the other groups up to you.

Thank you for your time. I look forward to your response.

Regards,
Kris Duggan
President of OzSearch Internet Guide

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OzSearch Internet Guide
Bringing the Web home.
http://www.ozsearch.com.au



Brent Wesley
B&H Consultants