The Saigon Linux Group turns 7 years old next February. It has had a very interesting and turbulent history in Saigon, Vietnam, during these 7 years.
SaigonLUG (2005-2007)
The Saigon Linux Group was originally formed in February, 2005, as the Saigon Linux User Group (SaigonLUG) in Vietnam. The first meeting was initiated by Kevin Miller (Hakata Group), Tracy Reed (CoPilot Consulting) and Vinh Nguyen (Oneo). The meeting was held at the Education University in District 5 attending by nearly 30 computer science students. After the initial meeting, it was decided to hold future meetings in more of an informal environment such as coffee shops.
Saigon Linux Group (2007-2009)
Kevin Miller - Saigon Linux Group
In April, 2007, to avoid a name conflict with another newly formed SaigonLUG, Kevin and Vinh decided to rename their Saigon Linux User Group to the Saigon Linux Group (SLG). The SLG was joined by Anthony Fernandes (OSSBit), the IT Director of GHP Fareast at the time. Both Kevin and Tony would give a presentation about Open Source in Business at the 2007 ICT Conference. Kevin was featured in CNET’s Vietnam a crouching Tiger where he talked about the emerging market for open source software in Vietnam.
Anthony Fernandes - Saigon Linux Group
The SLG main emphasis shifted to helping promote open source technology in a business environment. Together with GHP Fareast, the SLG mirrored several Linux and BSD distributions on their server in the Quang Trung Software Park in HCMC, Vietnam.
Between 2007-2009, members of the Saigon Linux Group helped out with several technology events including helping find venues for the Google DevFest (Kevin – 2008), Barcamp Saigon 1 (Kevin – 2008) and Gnome Asia Summit (Anthony – 2009). Kevin also helped organize developer meetings for Google, Mozilla and most recently, Rackspace Asia.
SLG Vscapeone (2009-2010)
In July, 2009, Vinh and Kevin decided to register the Saigon Linux Group as a limited company in Vietnam.. Since the Vietnamese government denied their request to register under the Saigon Linux Group name, the Saigon Linux Group was renamed to SLG Vscapeone (SLGV). At this time, Chris Dollmont (Skunkworks) joined SLG Vscapeone. Anthony and his Indian business partner formed OSSBit to focus on open source and outsourcing projects.
After signing several contracts with clients, SLGV ran into problems with the legal Vietnamese owner. Eventually all the members of SLGV left (SLGV had 10 members at it’s peak) and SLGV was dissolved in mid-2010. Kevin left to form the Hakata Group and Vinh formed Oneo with his Vietnamese developers. Chris joined Skunkworks.
Saigon Linux Group (2011 – present)
The SLG was left in hiatus for over a year with the domain name, saigonlinux.com, forwarding to the Hakata Group. Kevin decided to change the focus of SLG and relaunch it to help support all the former and current members working on open source projects within and outside Vietnam.
The site was relaunched on November, 15, 2011.
