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Linux Conference Australia Write-Up
I was actually invited to come to present the hacker survey that OSDN had done in conjunction with the Boston Consulting Group. However, upon looking at the conference plans, it was quickly apparent that that would be one of the few non-technical presentations, which was a pleasant change from my normal conference regime, in which the technical stuff seems crammed into one half day. I've heard that OLS is quite similar, but have not had a chance to attend. Nonethless, obviously my work withstanding *grin* the presentations were excellent - read the program to see for yourself.
I was able to attend Tridge's keynote, having only arrived Wednesday morning, a ARQuake presentation done by Wayne Pierkarski (we've mentioned it before). The afternoon was spent at Conrad's presentation on sweep, which is a hella cool audio app. Finally, the Q&A was Rusty, BDale, Tridge and Linus. Some of the typcial questions were asked, but there were some other questions 'round about DRM, IPv6 and some of the more social questions that were interesting. I think the DRM issues is one of the areas that some people are greatly concerned about, while other people have adopted a more Pollyana approach to it.
Unfortunately, on Friday, while I was presenting, there were two other presentations that I wanted to attend, but alas, had to speak myself. Rasmus, as usual, did a number of talks, and I was able to catch part of PHP printing with PDF, which was informative. Alex Reeder, part of VA Linux Japan also did a presentation on his work with bioauthentication, and my final piece of the show was Horms' presentation on Perdition, a mail retrieval proxy he's been working on.
But presentations aside, which were as a rule exceptional, I think one of the best parts was the relaxed feel, and the amount of interchange between just about everybody here. Almost every one that you talked to was fluent in Linux, programming or what not, which made for easy conversation with everyone there. The Perthites who really managed to put this together also did an exceptional job. To be frank, this is the only show I'd ever consider travelling 13,500 miles for.
I'd encourage anyone who attended or was part of it to post below -- and here's to looking forward to next year. One of the most amusing pictures though has to be the Linus in the penguin suit. The hats are off to the organizing team for their hard work -- and the speakers who traveled afar to be part of this. And from the wonderful uses of pizza box - yet more zaniness.
You can also check out some of photo round ups from Leon, Noel, and, of course, Marc Merlin's done a great round-up, as well as group round-up and one final one.
Overall, I highly highly recommend this show -- probably one of the best on the planet -- and for those in know, 23 will fall.
Rusty's talks were highly amusing, while still containing a technical edge. The dinner on Friday night was brilliant (300 geeks slowly getting smashed!). A T-shirt signed by all the luminaries at the kernel summit was auctioned for $AU 2100. It was quite a contest between Sun and IBM, with Sun representative Duncan Bennet making the winning bid. IIRC Bdale Garbee promised to name the next Debian release after the winning bidder, if the amount went over $AU 2000. So I guess we can all look forward to Debian Solaris!! :-)
a ^= b; b ^= a; a ^= b;
Take the World Cup... and *have* a Linux Conference.
Ah well, I suppose I can take that while sipping a pint taking in the Americas cup.
=)
You know yout can *gasp* buy and number of linux distos
Simply because Perth was the next city on the list - previously it had been at (from my some what dulled memory):
1. Melbourne
2. Sydney
3. Brisbane
and next year it will be in Adelaide.
Believe me, I would have gone except it was on the otherside of the country but I'm sure there are many geeks in WA who would like to come to the east coast conf. and can't for the same reason.
I'm looking forward to going to the one in Adelaide next year as its a little closer...
Tell me about it, at 13 cent a megabyte for over flow, downloading RedHat 8 will either use up my entire quota and then a little more, plus updates. Or it will cost me over four hundred aussie dollars.
I was at the conference every day, and each day I came straight from work. What was I wearing? My usual attire for the office. Black jeans, black t-shirt, brown hiking boots. Inside, no less!
This was a TECHNICAL conference, not a typical marketing dog and pony show. We were there to listen to what the speakers had to say (and a damned fine job they did too) not to look pretty or try and impress, but to learn.
And yet they write great software that's powering a lot of business. Maybe you should reassess your priorities?
I was there, dressed in shorts and tshirt. Which is exactly what I wear to work.
My first conference, mainly because I'm a Perth native. The atmosphere and level of information presented was excellent, and I'll most probably end up heading to Adelaide next year :)
Depends why you go to a conference like this. The reason I attend is to talk to _developers_, not "potential business partners". If a businessperson wants to talk to me, that's fine, but I'd hope they take me as I am. While I'm probably am not as intimidating looking as some of these hardcore wild-eyed, long-bearded hackers, I will not go for suit-'n-tie.
And frankly, I've noticed that the real businesspeople don't need to be pampered either. They understand we're not and don't want to be PR people, and appreciate the candor with which we explain the technical issues that rule our work.
If explained properly (and I do admit this isn't something all of us manage to do all the time), they are completly capable of understanding what we're trying to accomplish. I think that's more important than the (false) image you're trying to project using a suit.
I even hear that rather odd fellow should up in a, get this, penguin costume! What a total embarrassment!
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
I was one of the "ill-dressed" speakers - usual shirt and jeans. I suspect that if I had turned up in a suit, then (a) I would have not been taken seriously, and (b) I would have been bitch-slapped by my peers. It was a technical conference - I was there to present my work to my peers, not to drum up capital.
How about the coverage from ZDNet Australia. http://www.zdnet.com.au/builder/program/unix/story /0,2000034968,20271425,00.htm
I was there, the whole thing was impeccably organised and executed. Congrats to the organisers and presenters. For someone who is used to commercial conferences with their "Managing Your Server-side OLTP Business Process Modelling with [Acronym / Buzzword of the Month]" - style marketing presentations, this was a breath of fresh air. The technical knowledge present was immense, every person there was enthusiastic, and I left feeling inspired and motivated. One of the greatest moments for me was watching the reaction of Linus, Tridge and Bdale to one of the "How do you think Linux will bring about World Peace" style questions. Tridge's answer: "Just don't think about it too much." That really illustrated for me the whole mood of the conference - technical people doing what they love doing, with no (or little) politics and no marketing crap. And Rusty - the man is not just a genius. In fact he's definitely not a genius. But he sure can take the piss! ;P
Perhaps you're not familiar with Australia's weather: it was hot. There's no sense in dressing up to the hilt in suit and tie when it's 37 degrees centigrade outside. Did you want attendees dropping like flies as they walked across the lawns from one conference room to another?
LCA is a technical conference, held in a relaxed country, attended by friendly, informal people whose work attire generally consists of jeans and t-shirts. We weren't there to peddle our wares to big business, and if big business wanted to be there, then they'll have to damned well accept us on our terms.
If you want suit and tie, go to a stuffy US business expo.
-- Even if a god did exist, why the fsck should I worship it?
There's your problem, buddy! What's this brown hiking boots nonsense! You have to color co-ordinate! Next conference, those boots better be black too.
-- INTX Grouch. http://www.midnightblue.net
It's great to see all the Linux coverage, especially from media sources that are general interest in nature rather than exclusively technical.
However, there is one interesting side effect that Linux advocates should keep a watchful eye for. With the increase in publicity also comes the increas in misinformation. It isn't always intentional (such as FUD from Microsoft that is so often complained about on Slashdot), but it can be annoying (or worde, damaging) nonetheless.
Take for example, the article from "The Age" mentioned above. This is a minor example, but illustrates my point well:
Rather than copyrighting the Linux code, Torvalds published it on the Internet and invited others to offer improvements.
Sure, Linus freely distribtued the code to his Linux project on the internet, however the code to Linus REMAINS COPYRIGHTED. This mis-statement was not meant to damage the Linux cause--but it doesn't help the general public understand the concept of "Free" software versus free (as in beer), and that Free Software doesn't mean anti-copyright.
In fact, copyright is the very thing that keeps the source to Linux truly Free. Without the power of copyright the owners of Free source code would have no way of defending the GPL. Conversely, developers couldn't choose to distribute their works in traditional closed-source fashion. Although copyright law has been perverted and abused in recent years, copyright in its truest sense is a fundamental right in the protection of "free speech" (not only should citizens enjoy reasonalbe protection to express their thoughts as they wish to--be it the spoken or written word, music, film or even computer programming--they should also have some right to control how that expression is used). It's a tough balancing act of course--the DMCA extends much to far into the realm or IP protection, allowing the owner of copyrighted work so much unchecked power that it stifles freedom of expression.
Such a simple mis-statement and it warrants an entire article on its own. To assist the press in accurate coverage, perhaps the organisers of Linux conferences should put together press kits that place a lot of emphasis on the concept of Free Software and background on Linux that extends beyond pure technical information. Of course one cannot be sure writers would read the material, however ditribution of such information would make it easier to respond to widely published factual errors
Perhaps some letters to the editor praising the positive coverage, and at the same time correcting misinformation would do a lot of good for the Linux community...
A "Quantas" desk at customs? A "victim" being handed back to his pals and a German representative in a bloodied and beaten state? No corroborating evidence in an airport lined with cameras? In the unlikely situation that the police did say bugger off lawyers would be climbing all over each other to get their opportunistic heads on TV crying racism. International diplomatic incidents such as the one described do not just disappear, particularly in a country where the media loves to find a racial aspect on any news item. I'll believe it when I hear about it somewhere with more credibility than an AC on slashdot.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park