Why Community Shows Rule
A look at the Utah Open Source Conference
ByOn August 21 this year, Royal Pingdom ran a report on Linux popularity around the world, based on Google searches. One of the interesting data points was that Utah had a higher than expected interest in open source. I had a chance to confirm that result a week later when attending the Utah Open Source Conference, held from August 28 through August 30 at the Salt Lake Community College, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The organizers took an interesting approach to keynotes by featuring a local keynote with someone from the Utah open source community, followed immediately by a main keynote given by a representative of a major distribution (specifically Fedora, openSUSE, and Ubuntu).
I attended two of the keynotes, Paul Frields' and my own. (Really, it would have been a very short keynote if I hadn't...) Frields, who works for Red Hat as the Fedora Project Leader, gave a really good presentation on Fedora's community architecture that had the audience (about 200 people) fully engaged. I didn't get to see Christer Edwards' talk on using Ubuntu LTS in the enterprise, but I was pleased that the organizers worked hard to present a balanced slate of talks.
As a presenter, I think that the conference was pretty well run, and the organizers were very interested in supporting the speakers.
Quality Talks
Unfortunately, I only had the chance to attend one talk from a regular track, but I talked to quite a few attendees about the overall quality of the presentations, and the general feedback I received was very good.
The talk I did get to attend was by Glenda Rhodes on "GIMP for Photographers." Given only an hour, Rhodes didn't have time to delve too deeply into the GIMP, but she did a great job of explaining some tricks that were both handy and non-obvious when using the GIMP.
She demonstrated the procedures using the GIMP, helping the audience to play along. The only complaint that I have about her presentation was that it was far too short!
Hallway Track
Although UTOSC had some fine keynotes and presentations, the highlight for me was the ubiquitous "hallway track" – which is to say, the discussions outside of presentations with other members of the community.
It's standard for open source conference attendees to be great people to talk to. Even though some open sourcers can be brusque online, most are actually quite fun to talk to in person. But I have to say that the Utah open source crowd is one of the most friendly and outgoing groups I've been around in some time – and given that I've been attending lots of shows this year all over the world, that's saying something!
Family Day
One unique touch for UTOSC was the Family Day event on the last day of the conference. I think this was a brilliant idea, and I was very pleased to see so many families in attendance. Many parents brought toddlers and elementary age kids, who enjoyed the bounce house supplied outside and playing with each other while their parents learned about open source. I hope this particular feature is repeated at the next conference and spreads to other multi-day events as well. The only suggestion I would have for the organizers is to emphasize the family day even more, and encourage exhibitors to prepare some special open source demos for kids.
I'm not sure how much the kids picked up about open source, but many of the attendees probably wouldn't have been able to, or wanted to, attend UTOSC on their day off without their family. People have far too little discretionary time, so it's important to take that into account for a community show.
The show's exhibit floor was a bit weak this year, with only a handful of booths (including booths for Fedora, openSUSE, and Ubuntu) in an out-of-the-way corner of the conference. Typically, the exhibit area is front and center, as most conferences are geared to serving the vendors who want to display their solutions.
Seeing as UTOSC is a community show, held in a space that the organizers had little control over, the exhibits are not the primary focus. However, I hope to see more community projects at UTOSC 2009, and in talking to the organizers, I believe that is going to be a priority for next year.
Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier works for Novell as the openSUSE Community Manager. You can find his blog at http://zonker.opensuse.org/.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Endless OS 6 has Arrived
After more than a year since the last update, the latest release of Endless OS is now available for general usage.
-
Fedora Asahi 40 Remix Available for Macs with Apple Silicon
If you've been anticipating KDE's Plasma 6 for your Apple Silicon-powered Mac, then you're in luck.
-
Red Hat Adds New Deployment Option for Enterprise Linux Platforms
Red Hat has re-imagined enterprise Linux for an AI future with Image Mode.
-
OSJH and LPI Release 2024 Open Source Pros Job Survey Results
See what open source professionals look for in a new role.
-
Proton 9.0-1 Released to Improve Gaming with Steam
The latest release of Proton 9 adds several improvements and fixes an issue that has been problematic for Linux users.
-
So Long Neofetch and Thanks for the Info
Today is a day that every Linux user who enjoys bragging about their system(s) will mourn, as Neofetch has come to an end.
-
Ubuntu 24.04 Comes with a “Flaw"
If you're thinking you might want to upgrade from your current Ubuntu release to the latest, there's something you might want to consider before doing so.
-
Canonical Releases Ubuntu 24.04
After a brief pause because of the XZ vulnerability, Ubuntu 24.04 is now available for install.
-
Linux Servers Targeted by Akira Ransomware
A group of bad actors who have already extorted $42 million have their sights set on the Linux platform.
-
TUXEDO Computers Unveils Linux Laptop Featuring AMD Ryzen CPU
This latest release is the first laptop to include the new CPU from Ryzen and Linux preinstalled.