MI-80

Hey all, One of the nations largest annual free and open source expos (conveniently in our back yard), the Ohio LinuxFest, is coming up next month. It's still a little early to really get too excited, but I figured it's good to give at least a fair amount of warning for those who may have to request off work a month in advance and that sort of stuff. First off, the most important information of course: This years LinuxFest will be taking place in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday September 29th, 2007. Several of us went together last year. Overall it was a great time, with events for all different tastes. It consisted of a vendor area with a fair amount of swag, as well as panels from light topics (Linux for beginners, viewings of live penguins from the Columbus zoo, etc.) to more in depth topics (Linux in the enterprise, virtualization, etc.). Many organizations were present from IBM and VMWare to Novell and Red Hat and about everyone in between. This year looks to be on the same level. Details are still coming in as they pound out panels, but some details have emerged. First off will be a training day before the conference, it won't be free, but it'll consist of a day long training on Linux geared mostly towards enterprise deployments and management. The keynote speakers have also been announced. First is Max Spevack, the head of the Fedora Linux project. He's Red Hat's right hand man and responsible for the distributions ongoing success. Secondly is Bradley Kuhn of the Software Freedom Law Center, the organization responsible for legal representation of many open source projects, such as Plone and WINE. Beyond that not much else has been announced except sponsors who will have a presence there, basically everyone from last year and several new ones including IBM, Red Hat, Sun Microsystems, and many others. ENTRANCE IS FREE, BUT REGISTRATION IS MANDATORY!!! Optionally an “All Conference Pass” is available for $65.00, which (as I already have) I recommend everyone looking into to better support the conference. The perks include access to a private suite after the conference, a t-shirt, lunch, and drink tickets to the after-party along with a few other minor items. I'll be driving myself and 3-4 others who wish to come. All I ask for is a share of gas costs, probably $10-15 a person all said and done. Beyond that you don't have to spend a dime unless you want to, such as on souvenirs or food. These seats are going to whoever confirms they want to come and ride with me first, and as of right now that means there are probably 1-2 seats still available, though I'm not holding them down until people have actually registered. Unless anyone really objects we'll probably pull another day trip, so we'll be on the road early and back late, but it means no one will have to spring for a place to stay the night. That's just about it. More details will be available by September's 2600 meeting, where I expect some more attendees will be cemented. Until then take care, and hack on. http://www.ohiolinux.org/ for all the details and to register!