OSCON - the Wrap-Up 49
lisah writes "NewsForge's Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier has been reporting from OSCON all week and wrote a great wrap up of the event. He even had the foresight to take along a video camera while rubbing elbows with some of what Brockmeier calls the 'leading minds in open source.' Caught on tape: Kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman, Python creator Guido van Rossum, Jeff Waugh of Canonical, Greg Lund-Chaix of OSL, and OSCAMP 2006 organizer Brandon Sanders."
Re:Executive briefing (Score:3, Interesting)
Great conference! Wrong venue! OCC - bad karma (Score:3, Interesting)
Because of work requirements and having returned from the OLS (Ottawa Linux Symposium); my attendence at Oscon was limited.
The few BOF's that I did attend were very much worthwile. I attended the open source in medical BOF as well as the embedded open source BOF. I did bring home some good information from both as well (hopefuly) leave behind some good information on my own.
This, by the way, is my fourth Oscon; I started with the first one in Portland in 2003. As I live in Portland, I have no problem attending this since I don't have to fork out for travel (yecch!) or hotel.
Which comes to my sentiments on the venue. Oscon, this year, like last year, was held at the Oregon Convention Center. Prior to that, it was held at the Marriot on the waterfront.
I really wasn't going to mention this, but I need to be blunt here. I think that the Oregon Convention Center (OCC) has perhaps the worst soul for any place that I have been to! This is the place! Oscon, the convention, is fine! I only feel sorry they have to use that place.
The Oscon's of 03 and 04 were at the Marriot, which was a much nicer venue. True, they outgrew it, but it still had a much more intimate, nuturing atmophere for this event. I felt very comfortable during those Oscon's than the last two. There were very nice places to 'hang out and chat with others between sessions and in the evening.
What immediately punched me in the stomach about both Oscon 05 and this one was the forboding atmosphere of the place.
This was especially true when I arrived for an evening BOF on Monday night. I arrived at about 7 PM. When I walked into the building, I felt like I just left civilization. There were no people around! The feeling was very eerie. I felt like that I really did not belong there! I had a badge and was properly registered; that was not the problem. I just had a very cold, forboding feeling. I really wanted to turn around and run, not walk right back outside.
I walked for what seemed like hundreds of feet without seeing another soul. That's right; not another person! Finally, I came across a security guard who looked like he wanted to run, not walk, out of that building like me. He did not challenge me, but he did point me to where the BOF's were taking place. Hundreds of more feet without seeing another soul later, I finally came across a few people. I did find the BOF. It was a group of 20 odd people right smack in the middle of nowhere in a huge cavernous hallway whose' air conditioning kept it at about 40 degrees.
The next day, when the exhibits were open; and there were people; it still felt very alian and lonelly. I have longed for the atmosphere back at the Marriot. I just could not get the will to 'hang around' and socialize with the folks I saw there. I lasted about 1 and 1/2 hours at the exhibits before I had to get the **** out of there and outdoors.
I came back another evening for a BOF. This one was in one of the rooms; it was better than my first one. But, when it was over (at about 9 PM), I just had to get out of there. I know that if this were somewhere else, I would have stayed around and talked with the others.
One thing that I have noticed is how quickly the place emptied out after the last regular sessions let out. This was far different from the experience that I had at OLS, which was in Ottawa. Both were technical conferences with BOF's in the evening. At OLF, people hung around for the BOF's and socialized afterward.
I have been at other functions at OCC and I get the same feelings for each one. It's OCC; not the event. I have also talked with others and have found some agreement with my feelings.
OCC is very oversized. It's built for stuff that Portland would never catch. If it were about 1/4 it's size, I think it would have been a lot better. Oscon, great conference it is, is almost invisible in that vast space.
To those of you who put on Oscon; I can't, and won't b