(CC: Immanuel Giulea) On 12-12-23 07:56 AM, Cor Nouws wrote: > Hi all, > > Florian Effenberger wrote (17-12-12 14:03) >> .... The Document Foundation hasreceived the following two proposals >> for hosting the LibreOffice Conference 2013, ... >> * Milan, Italy >> * Montreal, Canada >> [...] >> In the meantime, we invite the community to discuss with >> the proponents on our discuss mailing list > > Thanks to all for the proposals! > It is encouraging to see that we have two great opportunities. > And since the teams suggest different dates, we could choose both! > (of course just kidding - in case you do not yet know me ;-) )
Hello Cor, all, Thank you for taking some time to ask about the proposal. Apologies for the delay in my response (on behalf of the Montreal, Canada team), the holidays and a busy January didn't help in getting a response faster. As a quick reminder, here is our original proposal: http://documentfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/montreal2013.pdf > > What I see, is that both proposals write about a link with the 'local' > evolution of open source and the possibility to host the LibreOffice > Conference. Which comes to my mind as a natural strength. > > Maybe it's possible for both teams to spend some more words on the > timing? > Is there any special local event or*project *or ... what makes it more > attractive for you to organise it especially in 2013? Or might 2012 > (too late) or 2014 be just as fine (from that perspective)? We have quite a few projects going on at the government, in several areas. I will try to summarize here a number of factors that bring 2013 to an ideal timing for LibreOffice conference to be held in Montreal. In 2011 new legislation (Bill 133) was announced to provide a better framework and rules to guide IT spending and project management within the Quebec government. It also addressed specifically the obligation to include free open source software in any studies, evaluations and options considered for tenders / RFPs. The notion of a "digital heritage" was recognized, to address the need for continuity and preservation of source code, among other informational resources. At the same time several contracts were the law has clearly been ignored or bypassed. We're not talking pennies here. One example: a project to migrate to Windows 7 was then evaluated at 1,4 billion (CDN$) dollars. Canadian and U.S. dollar have been at parity (more or less) for some time now, if that helps converting. This was for 738 *thousand* desktops, including approximately 500 000 in educational organizations. In that same context the government had decided to raise tuition fees in Universities, and the local FLOSS organizations (including FACIL, which is proposing to lead the LibreOffice conference in Montreal) joined forces to bring attention to the numbers: licencing fees could cover the tuition costs proposed by the government! A few journalists wrote about this, here is one: Source: http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/351050/logiciels-libres Many people took to the streets to protest against tuition fees and investigations haven been launched since then to inquire mostly about the construction industry corrupting local politicians to obtain contracts - the "Commission Charboneau" is ongoing and everyday we hear about such bad decisions. Increasingly, the local media is taking interest in software projects that have over-spent and gave contracts without RFPs, under apparent conflict of interests, etc. A huge social movement built up to record levels here, demanding transparency and accountability, but most importantly showing that citizen participation is not dead. That specific Windows 7 contract has since been blocked, we have a new government now. But many more go ahead, and most include Windows and Microsoft Office licensing. Every time there is media coverage of such issues, alternatives are discussed and slowly but surely FACIL and other local organizations and activists pass the information about the well established options, but it's chicken and egg: we need to demonstrate that such options as LibreOffice are well established, have strong presence and support, and can compete with the status-quo. > Are there opportunities / projects that help embedding the conference > as a part of for example wider support and acceptance for open source? > (Of course just hosting the conference helps in this perspective, but > it may be more effective when it is a planned part of a wider chain, > flow.) Many, perhaps too many to enumerate here. Every single project that is being exposed for skipping local legislation for RFPs (using clause exceptions like "there is no equivalent product" to give a contract w/o RFP for example) adds up to a long list of projects that will eventually have to stop ignoring GNU/Linux and free software, but also specifically LibreOffice - probably before the OS itself, as LibreOffice for Windows may become the first step in such changes of mentality. At that point we need anyone involved to clearly know the available options, of which LibreOffice is a critical component. As a cross-platform application, it's a critical entry point for FLOSS migrations, and as opposed to Internet Explorer, the office suite is not integrated to the OS (at least not in pricing - we know evaluation version of MSO come in consumer systems). > It is challenging for our community I think to have the opportunity to > jump over the ocean for the LibreOffice conference venue. > From how history has grown, nearly all previous conferences were held > in Europe (for easiness I also count the conferences that were held > before the making free of the OpenOffice project). It's certainly an > opportunity to build a bridge. But I've no idea *if Montreal makes it > easier and cheaper* for people from e.g. the US to join. Maybe someone > can tell about that? I am not sure how to answer this. Paris-Montreal direct flights are common, so my initial suggestion would be to go to Paris if you're coming from Europe. You will avoid US customs and security which often delay boarding planes, resulting in missed flights - specially if it's your first time flying and you're not used to it. If you can avoir a connection via any US city - DO IT. Regarding accomodation/hotels, having traveled a few times to Europe, I can safely confirm it's as cheap as you can find there, and of course as cheap as you are willing to accomodate. If you want the youth hostel experience, or the luxury hotels, we have both, all *within walking distance* or very easy access through public transportation. Other than the traditional venues, if you take some time and introduce yourself to the local FLOSS community, I can almost guarantee you will find a place to stay among someone probably more interesting than the local hotel folks :) (no offense intended). Please let me know if this answers this question. > > > In the Montreal proposal I see that the proposed time is from Friday > evening until say Monday evening (October 11-14), because of the > availability of the location during those days. > We are used to a conference of three full day's tracks, and one (half) > day in advance for more community-related meetings. And then often > some extra time for social/tourist related events. > Would there be an opportunity to host for the community meetings too? > It does not mean that the same location should be available an extra > day I think, but some good place, in the same area for convenience > would of course be nice. Of course, there are plenty of local hacker spaces, university venues and local companies willing to lend space for this. Ideally unconferences or -camp style events coul dbe held at the same venue, but anyone is welcome to propose smaller events or piggy-back into the conference. Regarding social/tourist events, keep in mind Ottawa and Quebec city and only 2-3 hours away by car/train, New York/Boston 6-8 hours drive/bus. It's common for people coming here to conferences to book return flights from other cities where they spend a few days off after such events. This can also be very easily arranged over the Internet or by phone. We hope to get local presenters, of course, in addition to international guests - exposing local projects that never make much noise for fear of backlash is very important. Getting people that have worked on local project to network with other LibreOffice worldwide community members is essential to change the current dynamics of fear and status-quo. Quebec is also an ideal playground for FLOSS projects that have an essential component: they are multi-language friendly. With such multi-cultural heritage, I expect attendants to the conference to come from many backgrounds, and also from other francophone countries so language community meetings could be held too. I expect lots of interest in localization as we have a very diverse demographics here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Montreal > > > Thanks in advance for trying to help me making up my mind! > I do not promise - by the way - that no new questions will pop up > after reading the replies ;-) Keep them coming :) I know the vote has started, but I hope this helps many to make up their mind for Montreal! Cheers, Fabian Rodriguez, TDF member Vice-Président FACIL http://libreoffice.magicfab.ca / Toll free: 1-855-445-4273 ~ FACIL, pour l'appropriation collective de l'informatique libre Montréal: +1-514-664-1260 / Québec: +1-418-907-9563 http://facil.qc.ca/fr/contactez-nous -- Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to discuss+h...@documentfoundation.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.documentfoundation.org/www/discuss/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
