LinuxWorld Moving to Boston

DMCBOSTON writes " LinuxWorld will be at the Hynes Auditorium in Boston, moving from NY in 2005." I'll be doing a Slashdot BOF at what I guess will now be the last New York LinuxWorld at the end of January 2004. I'll be sad to see this show move, as I always enjoy NY immensely, and seek any excuse to go there. Boston is a whole different story ;)

Comments

$10

[ljavelin]

And remember, the so-called "Chinatown bus lines" run between Boston and NYC for $10 a seat (one way). Pretty good if you live in NYC and want to go to Boston for LinuxWorld, but you don't have big $. It's a 4 to 5 hour trip depending on traffic.

Why moving every year is a BAD idea.

[doublem]

My girlfriend is involved in event planning, and it's hard enough to plan an event that takes place in the same venue every year. Just changing the facility and keeping the same city is a headache.

Between the venue's contracts, union woes and all the other issues, you really need people local to the area to avoid being gouged on price at every turn.

Moving to a new city every year is a cute idea, the the expense and the pain is not worth it. For large events, you'd want to be lining up the staff a t least a year and a half in advance.

Hell, I remember my girlfriends telling me about the pain from the last time Arisia tried to change the hotel they use!

Not pretty. Not pretty at all.

NYC conventions are a rip-off for all involved

[lysium]

Organized crime runs the Javtis Convention Center, mainly through the unions. Sponsors, vendors, and visitors alike are gouged. Floor space is outrageously expensive (the .Org pavillion barely afforded the 2003 space it was alloted), unionized employees are required for all functional duties (Teamsters for loading/unloading, another union for food prep, a third union for security personnel, etc.) and come with onerous restrictions. And as any Javits visitor can attest, an awful, low-quality lunch will cost you $10.

I do not blame them for moving to Boston, even though it means that I will miss LinuxWorld next year. Let NYC rot in its own greed, I say....

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Re:Since it says LinuxWorld and not Linux USA

[doktor-hladnjak]

Any reason not to have it in Canada. Accomodation is way cheaper than most US cities and Toronto is way cooler than most places (literally :))

I had a conversation once with a Canadian professor about SIGGRAPH locations one time. A few years ago, the conference was getting such large attendance that the list of North American cities that could sustain the attendance (facilities, transportation, hotels, etc.) was quite short. Toronto was capable of being on the list, but apparently many companies were strongly against it for logistical reasons.

The big reason given was that they didn't want to have to deal with getting all of the exhibition stuff (i.e. fancy booths, hardware for demonstration, mercandise to give away, etc.) through customs. For events in the US, they just load everything (of which often there's only one set which is used at all conferences) on a truck and off it goes.

Re:way to go

[mrisaacs]

Dont want to rain on your parade, but according to the latest FBI stats, NYs crime rate is considerably lower than Bostons. In some cases half.

The raw numbers are much higher, but then there are almost 16X as many more people in NY.

No-one in their right mind wants to drive in Manhattan, but then no-one really has to, the trains busses and cabs do a pretty good job of getting people around. Sadly they don't serve Javits too well.

Re:how about it moving every year ?

[NineNine]

While that's true, I don't think that Vegas would want it. Comdex is the worst couple of weeks in Vegas for business there, since all of the geeks take up space, but spend nothing. As a Vegas regular, I can tell you that NONE of the people working there like Comdex. All of the attendees seem to be cheap bastards who don't know how to have fun. Now, could you imagine COMDEX with only open source people? Jesus Christ. That'd be terrible. It's cheap to get and stay there with the expectation that normal people (such as myself) blow their wad on food, shopping, shows, gambling, etc.

Cheaper for me!

[BookRead]

I went to Linux World a couple of years ago. I like NYC generally but the credit card takes a beating. And at the Javits you're hostage to the ridiculously expensive, horrible food.

Macworld used to be here and had its best attendance here before it went to NYC.

You probably won't need a car. If it's at the Hynes (rather than the new Convention Center in South Boston) the food court at the Prudential is OK and there's tons of other fun, distracting things to do in the neighborhood. If it's in the new Convention Center you'll probably be staying in hotels near the Prudential anyway and the shuttles will bring you back. And Boston is a walking town. (Tho' I did walk back from the Javits up to B'way and 52nd once just for the color on Seventh Ave.)

I'll definitely be there. Of course, I live in Boston. This saves me buckets of dough. :-)

Re:Why not have it in Seattle?

[M. Silver]

really, there's ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to bring this type of "tourism" to the state of ohio.

Two words: Cedar Point.