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By Matthew Wright, Australian Correspondent

It wasn't your usual paid up advertisement, perhaps an accident on the part of Australian Exhibition Services (AES) that would get blood rushing to the fingertips of Linux advocates Australia wide.

AES has mailed out more than 20,000 free tickets for the Interact/PC IT99 trade show & fair in Melbourne, Australia. Every ticket features a blurb about Linux (1/8 of the page) and a picture of none-other than a glitzy Perlescent Green Tux Penguin. The blurb reads: "More than an alternative, Linux is now the fastest growing operating system in the world. Talk to the experts at the Linux pavilion and find out why Linux is taking off."

The Linux blurb was accompanied by others on such topics as e-Commerce, Networking, Recruitment, Multimedia, Software and Communications. One must ask: "why does Linux feature so prominently?".

PC IT, Australia's longest running IT event, and Interact have combined to become the country's largest single IT event. The event will be held over 4 days at the Melbourne Exhibition centre. Linux vendors did not even appear at last year's event - which features a trade show and seminars. However, 1999's Interact/PC IT is going to be huge for the progression of Linux in Australia, with many exhibitors present in the Linux Pavilion, and the inclusion of three Seminars devoted to Linux.

Adding to the excitement, more than 40 thousand people are expected to parade through the doors and all of them should pass the Linux Pavilion, hopefully raising eyebrows of IT managers and System Administrators alike.

The Linux pavilion will include exhibits from: Linux Users Victoria (Australia's Largest Linux User Group), Everything Linux, Netcraft Australia, LinuxHelp and Custom Technology.

On Thursday (September 2) there will be 3 morning seminars on Linux. They are: Introduction to Linux - A Beginner's Guide (Netcraft Australia), Mission Critical Linux - case studies of critical Linux use in Australia (LinuxHelp) and finally Linux for Business (Custom Technology). So, if you are going to be in Melbourne between August 31 and September 3 then register and get down to the Linux pavilion and show your support.

To apply for free tickets to the show register here.

Matthew Wright Australian Correspondent (matt@linuxtoday.com)
with the assistance of Jeremy Rann