Zoom and enhance...
I’ve just attended an Open Source conference. I missed the boom in ’99 and have mostly worked on deeply unpopular projects, so my expectations for a software conference include attendees numbering in the dozens and sessions in cramped basement rooms at budget hotels. This was not like that.
Rave-themed reception with open bar; tasty snacks; two friendly ladies in outlandish (though modest) outfits hired to smile at developers; lots of coders struggling to carry on technical conversations despite competition from base beats and abundant drink
The first three days of the conference was the ‘design summit’ which meant that essentially only contributing developers were invited. There were 400 of us, and not one of us paid a cent to be there. In addition to feeding and housing our sessions at the Hyatt, various contributors also sponsored multiple open-bar receptions every night.
It’s not clear if all the cash blowing around this project reflects actual potential revenue, or if it’s just a repeat of poor 90’s-style judgement. Earlier today I argued that it was the former, but that was before I had to fight my way through a couple of dozen dot-com-promoting engineers dressed in pink gorilla suits.
Zoom and enhance...
I bet that even now some banker on the east coast is reading an email titled “URGENT: Mascot-based promotion” and calling his wife to tell her not to wait up.