[svlug] So, what was your impression of LinuxWorld?

[Alan DuBoff]

So, what was your impression of LinuxWorld this year? I have to 
guess that most of the people on this list went to LinuxWorld 
for at least one of the days...seems an email sent out from 
LinuxWorld today, I thought I would pose this question to all of 
you.

Here's my impression.

I was going up with the intention to see exactly what is going 
on with Embedded Linux, this year. And it was a good year for 
that, as there is tons of devices coming to surface, and I feel 
Embedded Linux is finally making really strong headway in this 
space. This is good, but still seems like a void of folks that 
work in this area...I'd certainly like to help fill that void if 
possible...

I really think this is the fastest emerging sectors for Linux, 
and a lot of good is happening. There are still problems with 
some of the corps finding loopholes in open source, but they 
continue to become fewer and farther between.

Embedded tools continue to evolve, and seeing Wind River so 
involved in Linux is good, both for users of devices, and makers 
of the same.

I felt the overall attendance was possibly a little lighter than 
it has been the past couple years, but for the current climate 
in today's economy, I thought the showing was excellent. I also 
felt some of the vendors could have done a better job at 
presenting their products at the show, as an example, Fujitsu. 
They have a lot more products that run Linux, but only had a 
small booth and limited number of products at the show. I also 
felt Tyan could have made a better showing.

The Installfest was brilliant, and I was pleased to see so many 
machines going to a good cause. To get Linux in the schools is 
important. I have tried to get Linux in the local schools my 
kids attend, but they only use Apple and upgraded a lot of their 
labs and classrooms with new Macs, those still seem to be doing 
them fine.

Seems the one laptop per child cause is making some good headway 
with Linux, and it was interesting to see them taking those into 
some of the 3rd world countries like Africa and Mongolia.

All in all I thought it was a great show this year. Some great 
products coming to market, but no killer app surfacing that I 
could see.

Seems funny looking back on the first 2 in San Jose, the first 
one was pretty crude, in comparison.

--

Alan DuBoff - Software Orchestration