FOSDEM 2008

Just wrapping up with FOSDEM 2008 in Brussels and all I can say is that it's been another fascinating outing with fellow Open Source enthusiasts; we're all out to change the world... one person at a time!

My particular focus is Open Source Java and this year didn't disappoint. Our numbers grow and it seems that each year we get promoted to a larger room! Even with the steady churn of interested people in and out of various specialty presentations, we were keeping a fairly steady 50-60 people in the room.

As last year, Sun took active part in this event and keep showing their commitment to opening up OpenJDK completely. Progress is tangible and philosophy re-education within Sun is clearly going forwards; with the occasional hiccup that is to be expected. "Turning a supertanker is a little trickier than executing a handbrake turn"

This year we had the pleasure of having the people behind Duchess giving a talk about Women in Java technology. I greatly appreciate constructive approach to addressing the clear disparity between genders in our subsection of the technology. I strongly encourage everyone interested to look them up.

My own presentation went very well, considering the usual problems with demos not starting and laptop not picking up the projector. FBToolkit slides - in time-honoured fashion - were prepared 20mins before the presentation. FBToolkit is still growing up and with it comes growing pains. Expect big refactoring efforts over the next few months.

Everyone expecting some photos from this FOSDEM event won't be disappointed; photos from the Saturday portion of the conference and followup dinner can be found here.

I'd like to thank everyone for being great friends, for being there, for helping me get caffeinated most mornings and for helping me have fun instead of having a good night's sleep!

See you all there next year!