Hello again all! I come with reports from POSSCON. As anyone who follows my blog or is in 462 knows, last week was the Palmetto Open Source Conference. I didn't get the opportunity to attend the entire conference, but I did get to go and experience the tail end of it. It's hard to completely judge something based off of one day (especially the last day) but I'm going to share my experience at POSSCON 2011.
First I would like to start by saying I did not get to meet any of the 3 speakers that I initially really wanted to meet. I feel like there weren't as many people there on Friday as there may have been the other two days, but the turn out wasn't bad. I did get to meet and speak briefly with John 'maddog'. The rumors are all true....he's one the coolest, most badass, intelligent person you will probably ever meet. I first met him in the 3D printing session. I didn't know who he was at first, but he had been sitting in the same seat with his laptop open the entire session. Once it was time to get up and break into groups, I heard someone walk up to him and call him 'maddog'. That's when I knew who he was. Brandon, Jordan and I got the chance to share a couple of laughs with him. The real treat with him was hearing him speak. Even though he was kinda long-winded, his History of Linux session had to have been one of the most interesting ones and I regret only getting to see the last portion of it (especially since the session I was in lost internet and had to end early with little accomplished).
Now to sort of backtrack, I would like to give a brief recap of the day. I arrived a little late (still not quite able to figure out Columbia), but checking in was still fairly easy. And of course, like at most conferences, I got a 'swag bag' :), which had some pretty cool stuff in it, including a Ubuntu user magazine with articles on different open source software alternatives available for Ubuntu users. It also included a guide in the back of the magazine with setup and troubleshooting help for Ubuntu. The first session I went to was the 3D printing breakout session where I got to see 3D printing for the first time...as well as learn that I can build my own 3D printer for around $400. Now, when I first thought about this, I was thinking 'this seems really cool, but what am I gonna really do with a 3D printer?'...then I actually thought about it and realized how much I can make with a 3D printer. So now, I am convinced that I am going to build a 3D printer (and hopefully very soon). I even got to keep one of the objects they printed, which I also found to be super cool :) One problem I had with this session was that there was a lot more talking than I thought there would be in the group I chose to be a part of. I thought it would be more hands on, but I did get to walk around and see what the other groups were doing. I ended up leaving this session early in order to go and check out the open source gaming session that I knew some other students were in...this was a mistake. I'm already not a big fan of video games, but when you walk into a session on video games and half the people are doing their own thing and the speaker sounds bored, you know there's something up. So this particular session wasn't too successful.
Of course, lunch was great....the food in general was great. Yogurt parfaits, muffins, fresh fruit....yeah, you get the point.
For the afternoon session, I decided to check out the session on how to start a business cheaply on open source. The speaker, David Duggins, was really nice, but because of technical difficulties, the session didn't go quite as it was supposed to. He was planning on showing us different websites and open source software he uses and that the audience was interested in when it comes to open source alternatives to closed source software such as Microsoft Office and Outlook. Although the session had to end early, I still got the opportunity to get some good resources to open source software, which I believe was the main purpose.
There were also raffles and give-aways, none of which I won....so I don't think it's worth going into detail on that. Well..except that one was the Galaxy Tab and I would have loved to have taken it home with me in my 'swag bag'.
Overall, it was a interesting, and informative experience at POSSCON. As with most computing conferences, the best thing was the people. Everyone was friendly and forthcoming with information. That always makes the experience all the more memorable.
Until next time...
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