LinuxWorld…Yawn
Looking at the LinuxWorld online material it looks like a great show. Linux people merged with the NGDC (Next Generation Data Center Show) show, plus the added bonus of the Mobile Linux Show all merged into one.
There was a reason they were all merged. They could fill a hall with just one show. I looked for the big companies IBM, Nokia, Google, TrollTech, Nessus, WordPress, etc. Not one of these companies had booths. The companies that where there had people working the booths that had eyes that would glaze over if you asked them a technical question. Not a good move at a show like LinuxWorld.
Give me the show where all the shows sign are written in Klingon and that’s the technical show to register with.
The mobile show consisted of lectures consisting of why you should not build a Google Android phone and use the open source way instead. It looks like the Linux people have given up on trying to make a dent in the desktop and moved to quibbling over the handset market, which of course means nothing will happen. I was at a lecture where a lot of open source mobile people and Google were on a panel, basically it was open source people against Google. The Google guys attitude was “Hey listen, you guys had years to get your act together you never did and you never will, so we are going to do it our way”.
My attitude on Tradeshows is always go every couple of years to get the direction first hand of the industry. Other wise let the people who cant get information online to go. Or just go to the geekiest one you can find else they will go the way of the Dodo Bird (or Comdex).
I think the biggest line is when they were giving away free beer, wine and desserts.
Later.
