TEPID TEA PARTY

The world of Linux assembled in Boston on April 3-6 for this year’s East Coast US LinuxWorld Conference and Expo. At least some of the world assembled – both the number of visitors and the number of exhibitors seemed down this year, although the organizers speculated that they might break even on total attendance. Part of the reason the show looked under-attended was that it underfilled its larger new location at the Boston Convention and Exposition Center (Figure 1). Conference and Keynote The conference sessions took on a technical tone. There was fewer of the hype-charged business-speak sessions (for me, that is good). On the other hand, the events I attended seemed kind of safe and uninspired, as if the speaker were reading out of a textbook. I never did get that feeling of excitement you get when you’re learning something totally new and unexpected. Of course, to be fair, I could only attend a fraction of the events occurring simultaneously around the center.