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The IRC Channels
               The  Asterisk  community  maintains  Internet  Relay  Chat  (IRC)  channels  on
                                                                                 §
               irc.freenode.net. The two most active channels are #asterisk and #asterisk-dev.  To cut
               down on spam-bot intrusions, both of these channels now require registration to join. ‖

               Asterisk User Groups
               In many cites around the world, lonely Asterisk users began to realize that there were
               other like-minded people in their towns. Asterisk User Groups (AUGs) began to spring
               up all over the place. While these groups don’t have any official affiliation with each
               other, they generally link to each others’ web sites and welcome members from any-
               where. Type “Asterisk User Group” into Google to track down one in your area.

               The Asterisk Documentation Project

               The Asterisk Documentation Project was started by Leif Madsen and Jared Smith, but
               several people in the community have contributed.
               The goal of the documentation project is to provide a structured repository of written
               work on Asterisk. In contrast with the flexible and ad hoc nature of the Wiki, the Docs
               project  is  passionate  about  building  a  more  focused  approach  to  various
               Asterisk-related subjects.
               As part of the efforts of the Asterisk Docs project to make documentation available
               online, this book is available at the http://www.asteriskdocs.org web site, under a Cre-
               ative Commons license.


               The Business Case

               It is very rare to find businesses these days that do not have to reinvent themselves every
               few years. It is equally rare to find a business that can afford to replace its communi-
               cations infrastructure each time it goes in a new direction. Today’s businesses need
               extreme flexibility in all of their technology, including telecom.

               In his book Crossing the Chasm (HarperBusiness), Geoffrey Moore opines, “The idea
               that the value of the system will be discovered rather than known at the time of instal-
               lation implies, in turn, that product flexibility and adaptability, as well as ongoing
               account service, should be critical components of any buyer’s evaluation checklist.”


               ‡ More than 30 percent, at last count.
               § The #asterisk-dev channel is for the discussion of changes to the underlying code base of Asterisk and is also
                 not  second-tier  support.  Discussions  related  to  programming  external  applications  that  interface  with
                 Asterisk via AGI or AMI are meant to be in #asterisk.
               ‖ /msg nickserv help when you connect to the service via your favorite IRC client.

               8 | Chapter 1: A Telephony Revolution
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