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Linus to give COMDEX Keynote

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the ain't-that-cool dept.

If you ever questioned if Linux was going to hit the mainstream or not, this proves it. Linus will be giving a keynote at the April 19th COMDEX in Chicago. Hrm. Only 3 hours from home. Practically a stones throw from here. Wonder if I should crash. Update: 02/17 01:15 by CT : This is actually the Linux Pavillion Keynote at COMDEX. Not quite the whole deal. I said "a" keynote, not "the" keynote *grin*.

1 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. Linux Global Summit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    Due to growing popularity of Linux in the business market, Comdex has added a Linux Global Summit. They also have added a Java University for much the same reason. However, the Linux International Partner Pavilion is not new to Comdex. Last year's Li Partner Pavilion included RedHat, SuSE, Caldera, and Linux Journal (Walnut Creek decided to get a booth on the Windows World side). Btw, the RedHat CD give-away sessions resulted in lines of over 200 people.

    But beyond the exhibitors of Li Partner Pavilion, the Linux Global Summit will provide a series of conferences to attend about Linux. The keynote given by Linus will be $free$ to all as will the User Group Meetings. The other conferences will require paying an extra fee (I am not sure if Linux Global Summit Reception or the Plenary Session on The Future of Linux are free or not, maybe someone else will post more information here).

    Anyways, please keep in mind that the purpose of Linux International and Li Partner Pavilion is to act as Linux *advocacy*. This goal should not be confused with MS bashing. In the business market, the ability of Linux to operate in a largely NT/98 enviroment has been an important asset. If asked at Comdex about Linux, your probably doing more harm than good if your busy bashing MS rather than bring up the capablities that Samba and Apache extentions for FrontPage & ASP.

    Btw, as a side note, for those that think MS deserves some bashing, MS tends to do a better job of putting itself down that anyone else can. Last year's Gates keynote included demonstrating Win98's ability to support USB via Blue Screen of Death. Also, the walk way to Windows World had blasting "we can be heros, just for one day," which I assume refers to the average length of time that an NT domain structured around NT server would remain stable.

    But, we need as much support as we can get! Register for a guest pass which gets you free access to the exhibitors. Several companies make hardware that could work great with Linux if the companies would just take the time to support it. One example is that both APC and TrippLite make smart UPS and even software for SCO Unix to monitor the UPS. They haven't taken the time to port to Linux because they claim that there isn't enough interest in such a port. Show your support by letting companies like these know that availablity to support Linux is going to effect what hardware you purchase.