It's that time of the year again...
And no, I'm not referring to Eid/Diwali/Christmas :p
FOSS.IN/2007, India's most happening Open Source event is being held in Bangalore from the 4th to the 8th of December. My tickets are booked and I'll be there for sure :) The CFP closes in about 4 days, now would be a good time to clicky that linky.
The foremost thing that comes to mind when someone says FOSS.IN to me, are the people. Time for some history -- Back in the days, when we were still known as Linux Bangalore and when louiswu and myself attended LB/2001 (the only time we attended as errr "attendees") it was simply mind blowing. The people, the energy, the enthusiasm. So much so that we told ourselves, the next year, we'll be volunteers. Because it's so cool to be a volunteer and help these folks out.
In 2003, we did that and then realised what "Volunteering" really meant :p I shall not go into the gory details lest I scare off potential volunteers from coming to this years event hehehehe. But I'm sure every person who's volunteered in the past understands exactly what I'm talking about. And as in 2001, we met the same bunch of folks and a bigger bunch of newer folks. At this point you lose count of the number of people you had mini distro wars with, the number of "poke your nose in to say vi rulez" kind of things you've done. You finally start associating familiar faces with names and you know you'll see them the next year, at the same place. Once every year, for 3 days.
Oh and once you've volunteered, you've given away a part of your life. Signed away your soul. One of those Ghostrider type deals :p LB/2004, FOSS.IN/2005 and FOSS.IN/2006 (and frankly, I don't know how many more years are there to come), but it's wonderful. Meeting those people, those hallway discussions, those gaming sessions we managed to sneak in last year, the impromptu help offered in the hallways, suggestions on how we can tweak Apache....that's what makes FOSS.IN awesome. The people. Meeting them once a year. Spending 5 days slogging out to make sure everything runs fine. Running around on those 5 days making sure everything IS running fine ;) Getting hardware the day before, Harald fixing USB wireless issues, Andrew lending a hand in making sure stuff gets done on schedule. All part of the game. We've come to expect the unexpected in these past years and I'm sure this year will be an absolute blast.
If you've never been to one before, you should drop by. I'll be there, will you?
FOSS.IN/2007, India's most happening Open Source event is being held in Bangalore from the 4th to the 8th of December. My tickets are booked and I'll be there for sure :) The CFP closes in about 4 days, now would be a good time to clicky that linky.
The foremost thing that comes to mind when someone says FOSS.IN to me, are the people. Time for some history -- Back in the days, when we were still known as Linux Bangalore and when louiswu and myself attended LB/2001 (the only time we attended as errr "attendees") it was simply mind blowing. The people, the energy, the enthusiasm. So much so that we told ourselves, the next year, we'll be volunteers. Because it's so cool to be a volunteer and help these folks out.
In 2003, we did that and then realised what "Volunteering" really meant :p I shall not go into the gory details lest I scare off potential volunteers from coming to this years event hehehehe. But I'm sure every person who's volunteered in the past understands exactly what I'm talking about. And as in 2001, we met the same bunch of folks and a bigger bunch of newer folks. At this point you lose count of the number of people you had mini distro wars with, the number of "poke your nose in to say vi rulez" kind of things you've done. You finally start associating familiar faces with names and you know you'll see them the next year, at the same place. Once every year, for 3 days.
Oh and once you've volunteered, you've given away a part of your life. Signed away your soul. One of those Ghostrider type deals :p LB/2004, FOSS.IN/2005 and FOSS.IN/2006 (and frankly, I don't know how many more years are there to come), but it's wonderful. Meeting those people, those hallway discussions, those gaming sessions we managed to sneak in last year, the impromptu help offered in the hallways, suggestions on how we can tweak Apache....that's what makes FOSS.IN awesome. The people. Meeting them once a year. Spending 5 days slogging out to make sure everything runs fine. Running around on those 5 days making sure everything IS running fine ;) Getting hardware the day before, Harald fixing USB wireless issues, Andrew lending a hand in making sure stuff gets done on schedule. All part of the game. We've come to expect the unexpected in these past years and I'm sure this year will be an absolute blast.
If you've never been to one before, you should drop by. I'll be there, will you?