As this post concerns the OpenOffice.org project, I am responding to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] and would ask others who will inevitably respond to
respond to this list.
Ryan: you also sent this note to the OpenDocument Fellowship; are you
representing them or OOo in discussions with Linspire? OOo and
OpenDocument Fellowship are not the same, of course, and their
interests are not identical.
Context:
We had an extensive discussion on the issue, you recall, on the
[EMAIL PROTECTED] list. The thread: http://marketing.openoffice.org/
servlets/BrowseList?list=events&by=thread&from=991649
On 2005-12-13, at 19:44 , Ryan Singer wrote:
Hello All,
Update to the email I sent in September. Heather contacted me
again today, and both OpenOffice.org and The OD Fellowship are
invited to have a booth and propose speakers for this event. We
spent a few minutes on the phone brainstorming, and I have a few
items here that we discussed.
1. We should invite either SUN, IBM or possibly both as a joint
thing to talk about Open Standards such as ODF driving compitition,
and Open Source, such as OOo doing well in that competitive
environment. (Bob Sutor, Simon Phipps, any suggestions?)
"We"? You mean you and Heather? And aren't you getting a little
ahead of things? If I recall, discussions ended on [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with, "it is by no means clear that OOo as a project
is interested in going to DLS. So, your inquiries are necessarily of
the exploratory sort." I see they have progressed. In general, if
there are willing booth beings, going to a conference is pretty much
up to the group concerned. However, where OOo has to spend money (see
your #4), the situation differs, and we then have to evaluate: is
this worth it? Is anything gained? As far as I can tell, though there
was some good derived in the education area, it's not clear that the
conference really is worth the cost. Why not just go to the NEA
conference (or its cognates), and skip Linspire's show, especially if
they are not going to be funding travel & hotel; booth?
(FWIW, there is also the Southern California Linux Expo show around
the same time; that would seem to be more meritorious.)
I would much rather devote funds to OSCON, and make a major presence
there, than Linspire's DLS, which caters to a rather narrow audience
and lacks the wide appeal of OSCON. Or even LWE, if we wish to reach
corporations.
2. Linspire is interested in hearing proposals for technical
discussions about OOo and / or ODF. Does anyone have any ideas
they'd like to submit for a talk?
I am sure Linspire is... but funding is not irrelevant here. If
people want to fund themselves, okay: that happens all the time.
3. Linspire is trying to branch out to education for this
conference, so a talk about OOo and ODF in education (and in the
business around education) is very much requested. Perhaps Ian
Lynch would be interested in speaking at DLS this year?
Were Ian to go, whom would Ian be representing? OpenDocument
Fellowship? Ingots? OOo?
4. Finally, booth staffing and sponsorship. Who can make it with
a sponsor, who can make it without one, and who is willing to
sponsor who. Please only reply to the mailing list with responses
to this part as I don't want to flood the people I've CC'd on this
message.
I am not sure, Ryan "we" want to make it. Other venues seem to have
more appeal, have more weight, and will also benefit corporate
sponsors more.
5. A panel discussion about the recent success of ODF and where
things are headed has been floated. I would love to see Gary
Edwards on such a panel, in addition to whoever SUN and IBM sent.
Perhaps you would love it from the OpenDocument Fellowship
perspective? Perhaps you ought not to have so linked the
OpenDocument Fellowship's interests with OOo's here?
6. Any suggestions for DLS this year? Last year went very well in
my eyes, Linspire only has the venue for two days this time, so we
don't have time to repeat the Regi-con, but I would love to make
this a successful conference anyway.
I think it went well for the participants--they enjoyed themselves
and bonded--but I do not think we should attend this year. There are
other conferences with greater appeal, among developers, endusers,
and corporations. I think it would be a mistake for OOo to attend
this year's. OpenDocument Fellowship, of course, which Ryan also
represents, can do as it pleases :-)
--
Louis Suarez-Potts
Community Manager
OpenOffice.org
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