A little late but here are my answers....
Am I going - No
Why? - None of the topics were of much interest to me. They all
had a very
academic feel to them...not practical. The price was fine, like
me, most of
us here, I tip more that in a month.
What would cause me to attend TCON-07? - I want hear things I can
apply to
my business...things that will make me better. Local CEO's who have
transitioned to OSS, what were the benefits they thought they would
gain,
what did they think it would cost - what was the result, how did it
compare?
Wow. The last thing I want to hear is some CEO pitching his
product. You're unlikely to find one that
will come in and talk about their FOSS transition.
However, you *did* miss Rana Dutt, Founder/CEO Softel Solutions, Inc
talk about transitioning a whole city/county government in
Massachusetts to Asteris, something I thought would be right up your
ally.
You missed a great discussion about DUNDi. (How will DUNDi change
your business, Matt? What if Kuokua, (also announced at the
conference) enabled a federated peer-to-peer VoIP system for Hawaii,
with a distributed set of cheap gateways into local POTS lines? How
would that change your business?
Are they happy, sad - what were the lessons learned, did they
gain/savewhat they thought the would?
Rana Dutt thinks that DUNDi will revolutionize telecommunications (or
at least voice), and said so during the Q&A. (I asked what he
thought.) I tend to agree with his assessment. What if this was
the single piece of information that spurred you to action and as a
result keeps ComTel in business five years from now?
What companies in town are offering
OSS solutions, what are some migration strategies. Who are the OSS
players
in town, I tend to think of my self as plugged in, and all I know is
Michael, Hoala, and Vince part time.
Well, you certainly missed the opportunity to meet a few others.
You missed Terpstra talk about Linux in business. (And he should
know.)
My Comments:
I assume the P in TPOSSCON means the conference hopes to attract
people from
around the pacific, Asia and the mainland. I am not interested in
hearing a
bunch of 'OSS' intellectuals speak about the benefits, direction,
etc. of
OSS. I need to know what works, what doesn't work.
Here's the thing you really missed. You missed Andre Hill, one of
the lead guys at Novel freaking *expound* on what they're doing, and
how they're going to make it easier to ship applications on SUSE. It
was the most jaw-dropping thing I've ever heard at any conference,
ever. Period.
He hadn't talked about it anywhere else, and as he got deeper and
deeper (in the Q&A) he kept looking at the camera, knowing that he
had gone beyond what he was *supposed* to talk about. He freaking
(and I want to say another 'f' word there) *revealed*, Matt.
And you missed it.
And yes, I think this would be quite "interesting" for your business,
Matt.
I think a smaller venue with smaller rooms would be more
effective. Who
left TCON this year talking about how they couldn't get a seat b/c
it was so
packed. If the conv ctr is a way to get dignitaries from the
mainland, it
isn't worth it. As prestigious as it is to say TCON is held at the
conv
ctr, I do not see the benefit. The WIFI situation would have made
my blood
boil.
Guess what? The HCC is *cheap*. They want a small percentage of
the gate for us. *C*H*E*A*P*, and its a nice venue to boot.
What about the WIFI situation would have made your blood boil? I'm
curious.
I think general conferences are dead. If I subscribed to a couple of
podcasts, I am sure I could hear what the speakers presented, maybe
not the
exact same thing, but something similar.
You miss out on all the Q&A, which is where the real communication
takes place. You won't hear that on a podcast, unless its a
'podcast' of
a conference session.
Have you read "Cluetrain"?
Why would anyone want to come to a
convention just to hear someone speak to some prepared slides, or a
listen
to remarks that person has already made 10-20 times already?
Because the interesting things happen at the edges. The meetings in
the halls, the bizcard exchanges at the end, the lunches, the times
when someone in the audience asks the tough questions.
Targeted conferences will continue to be successful, IMO, TCON
needs to have
a target market....OSS in education, OSS in government, OSS in the
construction industry, OSS - making a smooth transition from
Windows to
OSS. That has a much better chance of attracting the 10-20 people
that will
attend every yeae. The CIO of Hackysack PA can convince the mayor
for funds
for a trip if they will learn how to save $$$$'s and talk to other
like
minded folks. A general OSS conference is too.....general.
We're looking at a couple themed "days" next year.
Thanks for your feedback. Feedback is a gift.
Jim
