LinuxTag: 40% Growth Over Last Year

LinuxDesktop.it writes "According to this article on pro-linux.de, LinuxTag 2003 was a success: 19500 visitors, up +40% from last year and the number of journalists covering the event increased twofold -- according to pro-linux thanks to the strong signals that the city of Munich switching 14k PCs to Linux sent through Germany. Exhibitors seemed quite satisfied too because they did not expect that the trade show generated that many business contacts since many reputed it as a more community event rather than a 'where .com meets .org' event."

Comments

Translation

[doktor-hladnjak]

The organizers report an enormous increase in attendance at this year's
LinuxTag. Two hours before the end of the convention they drew a
preliminary conclusion for LinuxTag 2003: over 19,500 visitors were counted,
more than 40% more than last year.

The many international guests, for example John 'Maddog' Hall from the USA
and Utaka Niibe of the Free Software Initiative Japan, ensured full
presentation rooms. Also content-wise the presentations were predominantely
high class.

The exhibitors expressed themselves throughout positively surprised
and satisfied. There were "extremely many business contacts" registered.
Many exhibitors saw their expectations fullfilled. Whoever had seen
LinuxTag still as a community event with relatively few business customers,
saw themselves better informed.

Oliver Zendel, the head of LinuxTag e.V., sees LinuxTag as a large success
that proves that Linux and free software can also suceed in the field of professional
business. LinuxTag is the largest Linux convention in Europe and
according to his words, a "world-wide leading convention for free software."

Highly visible was the effect, that arose from the decision by the city of
Munich to use Linux. According to information from Pro-Linux the number
of accredited journalists doubled from that of last year.

Re:German article

[Hrshgn]

Translation of the original article:

The organisers of the LinuxTag are reporting an enormous growth of this year's LinuxTag. Two hours before the end of the fair they are giving preliminary results of LinuxTag 2003: more than 19'500 visitors were counted, an increase of 40% compared to last year.

Numerous international guests like John 'Maddog' Hall from the USA and Yutaka Niibe of the Free Software Initiative Japan generated full auditories. Also in terms of content, the talks were mostly high class.

Almost all exhibitors were positively surprised and satisfied. "An extreme number of business contacts" was registered. Many exhibitors saw their expectations fulfilled. Whoever saw LinuxTag as a community event with relatively few business customers was disabused(?).

Oliver Zendel, head of the LinuxTag e.V., sees the LinuxTag as a big success which proofs that Linux and free software can also persist in the area of professional business. LinuxTag is the biggest Linux fair in Europe and according to his words a "worldwide leading fair in free software".

Highly visible was the announcement effect of Munich's decision in favor of Linux. According to informarion from Pro-Linux, the number of accredited journalists has doubled compared to last year.

Re:what else is there?

[tonywestonuk]

If you're interested in IBM iron, then the Common conference (www.common.org) is well worth a visit.

As IBM now are going Linux/Java, several of the training sessions are geared around this... Well worth it IMO.

Tony.

Re:Two critical notes

[geschild]

The French the Americans are more alike than they know: neither will speak a foreign language, even at gun-point.

[RANT]
Let me enlighten you on the state of affairs in Europe, taking the countries you named to make an example:

1. Switzerland has the following national languages. (The first three are official, see this site for details.)
   • German (Sweitzerdeutsch, a dialect of German)
     
   • French
     
   • Italian
     
   • Retro-romanian (Rhaeto-Rumantsch, last place where this is spoken, like Basque it is completely different from all other languages in Europe).
   
   
2. Belgium has the following national languages:
   
   • French
     
   • Dutch (Flemish, a dialect of Dutch is actually spoken but in school official Dutch is thaught)
     
   • German
   
   
3. In Luxembourgh, the following languages are in wide spread use:
   
   • Lëtzebuergesch (A derivative of German, spoken only)
     
   • German
     
   • French
   
   
4. To close it off, in the Netherlands, us poor souls have only one official language (Dutch) and one language local to a region (Fries). However, since we have been trading with the whole wide world since $DEITY knows when these languages are thaught in school to all children for at least a few years:
   • Dutch
     
   • English
     
   • German
     
   • French

Now if you look closely at this list you will notice one thing: German is in all of these countries... The reason? because we are all only a few hours away from each other!Please remove your xenophobic head from your xenophobic behind and get a few language classes. Or just decide to stay at home and go to a local conference. Given the fact that the whole point of this article was that the attendance is high, despite most topics being in German, I doubt that you'll be missed.

[/RANT]