[ubuntu-us-in] Photos of the IU LinuxFest, and a plug for the Ohio LinuxFest

[Simón Ruiz]

I can't remember whether I posted the existence of these on the list
before, so I'll err on the side of posting too many times:

http://indianalinux.blogspot.com/2007/04/iu-linuxfest-2007-revisited-with-photos.html

Also, as I look at responding to this year's Ohio LinuxFest call for
speakers (though, considering I was invited to do so, I feel pretty
sure my submission will be accepted), I want to bring up the idea of
this event to the group.

I went last year with Scott and I had an AMAZING time. It was just a
whole lot of fun, I got to listen to talks about things I found
interesting (Google's Chris DiBona (of Floss "Quarterly" fame),
GNOME's Jeff Waugh (formerly of Canonical), and Jon "maddog" Hall
(Linux International), to drop a few well-known names) and then go up
and talk to the people who just gave the talks about the stuff I was
interested in.

The booths were neat and informative, lots of cool community stuff,
and the people standing around were nice and chatty (or painfully shy,
depending on who you were looking at).

I got to chat up quite a few people, including Novell Open Audio's Ted
Haeger well before I had any idea what he did for a living. The
after-party was tons o' fun.

And, there were penguins. Real, live, jackass penguins.

It was a hoot.

I guess this year it will be a 3-day event: "Ohio LinuxFest 2007 will
be held Friday, September 28 through Sunday, September 30 at the
Greater Columbus Convention Center."

Last year it was only one day, so you have some idea of how
spectacular it is right there by it's ridiculous growth rate (more
than doubling the attendees every year).

Not a whole lot of information out yet, but I wanted to throw out the
idea really early: I'm going, and I'd encourage ANYONE interested in
Linux in ANY capacity to go as well.

It's free if you're on a budget; if you're not on a budget (or if you
can find it in you to work $13/mo. between now and then into your
budget), the warm, fuzzy feeling you'll get from supporting this
fantastic, all-volunteer event will be more than worth the $65 "All
Conference Pass"

This year, I'm definitely thinking of getting a hotel room. Having to
leave the after-party early so as to drive home to Bloomington was no
fun.



Hmmmmm, now that I think of it, I guess I haven't quite already asked
my new employer about taking the time to go to this...though it was on
my resume that I'd been invited to give a talk at it...I should
probably explicitly ask about it, though.

Vern! So, uh...about the Ohio LinuxFest...wanna go? :-)

-- 
-Simón A. Ruiz