As Australia's Linux community prepares to gather in Adelaide next week for a heavyweight conference, a leading state industry cluster has detailed plans to establish a national open source "evangelism" and policy group.

Con Zymaris, chief executive officer of Cybersource and convenor of Open Source Victoria, told ZDNet Australia   the national group's mission would be to help businesses and individuals involved in free and open source software development penetrate Australia's corporate, government and education markets.

Zymaris said via e-mail that "OSV ... would be most happy to join with related organisations in Western Australia and South Australia and proto-organisations in NSW and Tasmania to bring about a national evangelism [and] policy group".

He told ZDNet Australia   that the structure of the forum would depend largely on intensive discussions with Linux community luminaries -- such as South Australian Linux consultant Dan Shearer and Leon Brooks from the Society of Linux Professionals in Western Australia -- from other states during the Linux.conf.au conference in Adelaide next week.

A key point for discussion would be, he said, whether Linux activists in NSW and Queensland would be able to generate sufficient memberships and "pull together as ... state[s]," -- which would then be represented in the national forum -- or whether they would prefer to roll company or individual memberships directly into the national body.

While there was no deadline set for the creation of the national forum, Zymaris said establishment within the next three months was a reasonable expectation.

Zymaris stressed that any national body would not conflict with existing groups such as Linux Australia and AUUG, who service tech professionals, Linux hobbyists and enthusiasts. "We ... want a clear distinction between such a body and the already excellent user and other enthusiast groups.

"They do a tremendous job at what they do. Our core mission is to help build Linux and [free and open source software] services, products and consultancy firms by making that technology fully mainstream in those industry sectors we are targeting".

The move comes amidst a critical year for Linux and the open source movement in general both in Australia and overseas. A renewed assault by key competitors and litigation by the SCO Group are just two of the challenges it faces.

Microsoft has launched a marketing assault on Linux, with a series of advertisements in leading tech publications directing information technology managers to "get the facts" on Linux before purchasing anything but Windows.

The advertisements point readers to a Web site, entitled Get the Facts on Windows and Linux, that contains research on the cost benefits of licensing Microsoft's Windows Server System vs. a Linux-based solution. Much of the research has been commissioned by Microsoft.

Zymaris said the national body would probably operate with low levels of funding.

"We've found with OSV that we can achieve a hell of a lot with minimal funding.

"We correspondingly can probably achieve a similar amount with a national industry forum as we have with OSV.

"OSV have received a grant from the Victorian government, which will help elevate our activities at the state level.

"There may be a number of mechanisms by which we can help fund a national peak body, but at present, the focus is on activities which are effective without costing more than volunteer effort".

Stefanie Olsen contributed to this report

Copyright © 2009 CBS Interactive, a CBS Company. All Rights Reserved.
ZDNET is a registered service mark of CBS Interactive. ZDNET Logo is a service mark of CBS Interactive.