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Barcamp Chicago Day 1 Recap

Barcamp Chicago has been a blast. Saturday’s turnout was phenomenal – I would hazard a guess we had 200 people at one point. The formal presentation was always packed, and mini-sessions were going on all around.

There hasn’t been a lot of hacking per se, but lots of active discussions about everything from road trips to Linux distributions to brewing (and trying!) home brewed beer. I could have done some more networking, but overall, I am having a blast.

Unfortunately, my camera isn’t working on my PC or Ken’s – I’m getting USB errors when trying to import the photos, so those will have to wait until I get home to a card reader.

Ken’s been a big hit – lots of folks who have not only heard of Conary, but wanted to learn more, and he’s been in his environment talking away, and his passion and excitement has rubbed off on everyone around him.

We got back to the hotel around 5 a.m., so to say it was a fun-filled day, was an understatement.

Twitter

If you want to follow along at Barcamp via Twitter, it would help if you knew my Twitter username: silwenae or www.twitter.com/silwenae

Enjoy.

Barcamp Chicago

I made it to Barcamp Chicago successfully, Kevin and Ken were waiting at the terminal. Took the train to the hotel, unpacked, and took the train to Barcamp, and here we are!

The location itself is pretty cool – 3rd floor office loft, with lots of space. We’re currently hanging around the area that will be used later for the Installfest, and presentations are already going on. The formal presentation room is curtained off, with tons of chairs, that I doubt will be enough.

We walked in and setup, and shortly after a couple Google guys showed up with tons of snacks and even more beer to add to the existing 2 kegs – nothing like helping out hauling all that stuff up 3 flights of stairs!

I’ve started a set on Flickr of the photos I’m taking here at Barcamp. I’ll also be using Twitter for small updates, in addition to live blogging, so it can be just like you’re here!

The Foresight, Conary and GNOME usergroup meetings are all tomorrow afternoon, so we have some time to setup, kick back and meet some folks.

Here’s a picture of Ken working on the Installfest PXE Server, enjoy:

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The iPhone Moral Quandary

Gizmodo covers what’s been on my mind since it was announced Apple’s iPhone partner was AT&T: the moral quandary of doing business with AT&T.:

So what we have is a company that doesn’t have privacy at the top of its priority list, not to mention the anti-trust laws of this country. It’s setting terrible precedents left and right, and its vast power that comes from its huge size makes it all the more unlikely to change for the better. We, as contentious, tech-savvy individuals, should go out of our way to deprive this company of money, power, and influence.

And for more information about AT&T, visit the EFF’s page.

The above paragraph sums up exactly why I won’t buy, or even consider, an iPhone.

Microsoft's Linux patent deals

As a long time Red Hat stockholder, let me say thank you to Red Hat’s leadership for flatly rejecting Microsoft’s overtures for interoperability and protection from patent suits. From the Yahoo! News article:

Microsoft made its intentions clear on Friday: It wants to work out a cross-licensing deal with the largest Linux vendor on the market that would look much the same as its recent agreements with Xandros and Linspire.

Red Hat quickly dashed all hopes, standing on its previous statements from last November, issued in the wake of the controversial Novell deal. Red Hat left no room for misinterpretation when it said the company would not compromise on its open-source roots.

“An innovation tax is unthinkable,” the company said in a statement. “Free and open-source software provide the necessary environment for true innovation. Innovation without fear or threat. Activities that isolate communities or limit upstream adoption will inevitably stifle innovation.”

To Red Hat, Ubuntu and all the others in the future who reject this deal: Thank you.