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Free & OpenSource Software Weekend

Posted by michael on from the what-else-were-you-doing-anyway dept.

FOSDEM Team writes "This week-end, the fourth edition of the FOSDEM (Free and Opensource Software Developers' European Meeting) is taking place in Brussels, Belgium. Once more, famous speakers will be present for this 2 days event to talk in the different tracks presented (Linux Kernel, Accessibility, Desktop, Java, Scripting languages and Security); on Saturday evening, the FS Award ceremony will be conducted by Richard Stallman. This year, the introduction talk will be made by Tim O'Reilly and the end talk by Jon Maddog Hall. Don't miss the interviews made by the FOSDEM guys : Hans Reiser, Ian Formanek, Keith Packard, Tim O'Reilly, Robert Love and many others."

16 of 98 comments (clear)

  1. But.... by flewp · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is the meeting free? Is it free as in free beer? Or more importantly, IS THERE FREE BEER?!

    --
    WWJD.... for a Klondike bar?
    1. Re:But.... by Mr2cents · · Score: 4, Informative

      If you go there, and you like beer, I can recommend l'atelier, a nearby bar with more than 200 (300?) beers, most of them belgian.. It's very cosy, too! Can be found at Rue Elise nr 77, 1050 brussels. At maporama you can locate it. It's not free, though :).

      --
      "It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
    2. Re:But.... by RiverTonic · · Score: 5, Informative

      And why don't you tell 'm about the Old Market Square of Leuven? It has over 50 bars.
      http://www.leuven.be/showpage.asp?iPageID=1721

      --
      This is RiverTonic's sig.
  2. Free Software is so mainstream by ObviousGuy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Free Software movement has gotten so large and so mainstream that I would think that conferences like this that highlight the 'separateness' of Free Software would eventually wither away. As more businesses pick up Free Software, the movement would become more prominent at true software conferences that cover the entire industry.

    Free Software is not a product, but its products are products. Apache, Linux, Perl, these are all products and have a place to stand among commercial products like IIS, Windows, and Visual Studio.Net. Free Software, OTOH, only describes a group of software that really has nothing in common with each other except that they share a common license.

    I would rather see the Apache booth at COMDEX and SD than at FOSDEM. The earlier we can throw the yoke of 'Free Software' from our backs, the earlier Free Software will fulfill its mission.

    --
    I have been pwned because my /. password was too easy to guess.
    1. Re:Free Software is so mainstream by homeobocks · · Score: 4, Informative

      I don't think it's really gone mainstream on the desktop. On the server, it really is, but few normal people even know what free software is! BTW, Apache isn't a product, it is a project. You're probably thinking of the Apache HTTP server (abstract concept) or the Apache HTTP daemon (the program.

      --
      MOUNT TAPE U1439 ON B3, NO RING
    2. Re:Free Software is so mainstream by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah, I was on a date once and started explaining the GPL. free as in speech, etc. My date went to the bathroom and never came back.

    3. Re:Free Software is so mainstream by Sheetrock · · Score: 4, Interesting
      I've heard a rather convincing argument that the successes of Free Software have been where it is best able to conform to business mentality and shed that which people tend to misinterpret as 'elitism'. Companies get confused when they see a license that says they must share, and many no doubt have misconceptions about the degree of sharing that must occur (will employee files end up on the net?)

      To truly compete, perhaps it should arrive in binary-only form in 'commercial' style packing material, and mention the option for interested users to download the source in some obscure portion of the manual. Otherwise it's just too strange a concept to get a handle on for the average person (manager/boss) whose computing experience has been shaped by commercial software and practices.

      --

      Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
      -- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.




    4. Re:Free Software is so mainstream by lowieken · · Score: 5, Interesting

      What would you say if you saw the WordPerfect and MS Office teams get together to think about how to implement a feature in their programs? Fosdem is really much closer to that kind of activity than to a trade show. This is a "Free and Open Source Developer Meeting". That means it's targeted at _developers_. Maybe similar events don't exist in the proprietary software world? Or are they just less visible and accessible?

    5. Re:Free Software is so mainstream by pantycrickets · · Score: 4, Funny

      On the server, it really is, but few normal people even know what free software is!

      Hundreds of thousands of BitTorrent/Kazaa/Usenet/IRC users would beg to differ. :)

    6. Re:Free Software is so mainstream by AigariusDebian · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, if you're a female AND you go there, then there will be chicks.

      But then I somehow miss the point of your interest in the matter.

  3. As you know ... by gustgr · · Score: 4, Interesting

    there are a lot of foreign people who can't be there to watch the presentations, so I would like to know if some speech/talk will be recorded (in video or just the audio maybe) and have it avaliable on the net for those of us who are not in Europe download it and enjoy this meeting too.

  4. A question... by Nimloth · · Score: 5, Funny

    Can the Win2k SP1 developpers attend this year?

  5. New NetBeans Release by WilsonSD · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Everyone should check out the newest beta release of NetBeans (as mentioned in the interview with Ian Formanek). It really shows how nice a rich Java application can be.


    -Steve

  6. I attended the very first FOSDEM by crimestopper · · Score: 5, Funny

    it was called OSDEM back then, and RMS was there telling audience people off because they said "Linux" and not "GNU/Linux" when asking questions.

    During his session he was talking about emulators for some reason and he said "Emulators like WINE" I yelled "Wine Is Not An Emulator!"

    serves him right!

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  7. Software freedom still matters. by jbn-o · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I would rather see the Apache booth at COMDEX and SD than at FOSDEM. The earlier we can throw the yoke of 'Free Software' from our backs, the earlier Free Software will fulfill its mission.

    Software freedom is not something that chains you or in any way enslaves you. It is, as the name says, something that gives you freedom--freedoms you don't get with the other software you named. Even by the metric of mere popularity, Apache has apparently done quite well without booths at COMDEX and the like (Apache is still the most popular web server in use). But Apache is one of the outliers--most free software is not as popular in its field as Apache is in its field. I think we are better served by conveying how non-free software (not "commercial" software) restricts your freedoms to share and modify. There is nothing to gain by conflating the two definitions of "free" (except, perhaps, to point out how other languages don't have the problem English does because other languages separate freedom and price by using two different words). We gain more when we talk about software freedom and insist upon it. Insisting on software freedom has gotten us very far in the past 20 years. You don't gain success in a movement by throwing away the principles that the movement stands for.

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    Digital Citizen
  8. If you're there, check out Rich Kilmer's speech... by tcopeland · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...he's doing a presentation on Ruby.

    The slide images alone should be worth attending... he's hunted far and wide for images of pythons, pearls, rubies, and such-like.

    --
    The Army reading list