Both men are Linux users and participants in the open source software world. Don runs Ubuntu Linux on his laptop, the same Debian based distro that Aaron considers his current favorite, in addition Don runs Gentoo on his desktop computer.

Aaron graduated from PSU with a degree in Computer Science and has gone on to a position as a Business Systems Analyst out at Mentor Graphics. In addition to a wide array of job responsibilities, he works spends time working on Oracle databases and programming in Perl.

Don is currently working towards a Master's degree in Computer Science at PSU. His work as an independent contractor implementing web applications with the Ruby programming language has allowed him to learn the Ruby on Rails framework – which he's very enthusiastic about.

The similarity between the two extends into leisure time activities as well, with Aaron heading out to the single track on his mountain bike while bicycling is Don's primary means of transportation – not even owning a car.

Aaron is excited that the PTP is still around after the start-up years. In addition to the chance to play with Cool Technology, Aaron is proud that the PTP continues to be a volunteer based, ad hoc organization.

Don serves as a member of the PTP's board of advisors and as the Director of Technology. He cites the camaraderie of the PTP over the years as a major reason for the group's success. Recounting an early WiFi installation at the Portland Hawthorne Hostel, Don spoke of the blending of talents from Linux gurus, Radio experts, carpenters, etc. In addition, Don spoke of existing and potential partnerships with organizations like Free Geek (a hardware donor on occasion) and the support of folks like Joe McCann and Tom Fitzgerald there.

Aaron took over from the original PTP Treasurer in late 2001. He has remained Treasurer of the PTP board since that time four years ago. He sees the recent granting of a Meyer Memorial Trust grant to the organization as a validation of the fact that the PTP has grown up. He credits Mike Weinberg with the successful writing of the grant proposal, while admitting that he helped Mike by tracking down details and doing initial discover work.

Don spoke about the future of the PTP, referring to the fact that the MMT grant has created the first paid work for the organization. Don feels that expanding to one or two paid staff might be a good idea for the PTP. When questioned about transitioning to a financially self supporting model, Mr. Park was adamant that the PTP would always provide a no cost option for Internet access - while acknowledging that there might be revenue options for providing higher bandwidth.

Finally, we asked the candidates to speak for themselves on a couple of questions:

Queston: What is the biggest opportunity for the PTP over the coming 2 years?

Aaron Baer: The Personal Telco Project has the momentum and the initiative to continue to grow as a volunteer organization that makes a difference in Portland. Our biggest opportunity over the next two years is to grow beyond being an organization of geeks building networks just to show people who we are and what our ideas are. Rather, to become an organization with volunteers and participants from every part of the Portland community. To help everyone take part in building public wireless networks and be part of the Personal Telco Project. We are making huge strides in learning how to do this as we start heavily interacting with the community as we implement our first grant project in the Mississippi neighborhood.

Don Park: Each two year term as president of the Personal Telco Project has unique opportunities. In the early years the opportunity was to build a critical mass of hotspots. The mass production of 802.11 gear with a subsequent price drop combined came at the same time as the busting of the dotcom bubble and its subsequent creation of a skilled volunteer workforce. Add a charismatic leader like Adam Shand and the share-alike philosophy of open source software and there was a perfect storm of opportunity that created Personal Telco.

In the middle years the opportunities were different, the rate of hotspot installations skyrocketed, the 802.11 spec evolved, and "wifi" business models came and went. Keeping an all-volunteer organization effective became more difficult. Questions arose as to the utility of our altruism, while at the same time people's lives were being affected in a positive way.

The opportunities for today are many.
Increasing education and outreach: building on Personal Telco University started by Darrin Eden, the current president.
Staying technically agile: 802.11n and MIMO are addressing multipath issues that dominate interference in dense urban environments, mesh networking is becoming feasible in both software (MIT's Roofnet) and a low-cost hardware platform (Linksys WRT54G and Netgear WGT634U), and entirely different forms of networking such as fiber optics and free space optics may become as accesable as 802.11.
Strengthening the infrastructure: Restoring some structure to volunteer coordination such as area captains, using software applications like the adhocracy project for ptpnet administration and google maps for geospacial awareness of hotspots, point-to-point ptpnet links, and untapped opportunities to bring together the very users of personal telco hotspots through service discovery applications demonstrated in part by OS X's rendesvouz/bon jour.
Global awareness: Geting meeting notes and calendars both to and from the other major wireless groups around the world, starting with the west coast groups of BC Wireless, Seattle Wireless, NoCat, and SFLan, SoCal, and others.

All that becomes exciting and also overwhelming so the overriding opportunity is to growing the ptpnet wireless infrastructure while at the same time making sure the volunteers of the Personal Telco project are getting what they want out of the group.

Question: What makes you think you'd do a good job at the helm?

Don Park: The position of president of the Personal Telco Project appeals to me because I have seen the organization and the 802.11 industry grow and this position involves being a unique part of its future. My involvement in the PTP has been a consistent presence since the beginning of the group and I naturally gravitate to organizational tasks. In the past I have given the name and some of the inspiration to the "Special Ops" group within the PTP. I have spent time organizing monthly meetings at the Lucky Lab and the Urban Grind, as well as arranged for conference exhibitions at InnoTech and OReilly's OSCON. I feel that I am familiar with the different interests within the organization as different people have different ideas on marketing, business development, technical development, volunteer organization, and education. Managing these different influences and creating opportunity while keeping in mind the original spirit of the charter and bylaws is an important responsibility of the position of president. Other responsibilities are to recognize contributions and promote contributers to positions of responsibility. Also a president should break ties when consensus is not being reached. By remembering these things and working with the secretary, and treasurer I hope to advance the structure, and the results of the Personal Telco Project.

Aaron Baer: Aside from my current role on the Board of Directors as the Treasurer I have a great amount of experience in large business environments. Professionally, as a Business Systems Analyst, it is my job to communicate efficiently with others, gather information, organize ideas and implement them within a team environment in an successful manner. I also maintain the years of experience in this organization to know it's history, goals and people and I have the drive and motivation to see it succeed in the future.