By Dean Pannell
[ The opinions expressed by authors on Linux
Today are their own. They speak only for themselves and not for
Linux Today. -lt ed ]
Standing in the Javits center, stealing space on a
www.internet.com computer, I realize how much I owe Arne Flones. I
was feeling down at the mouth Saturday morning when Arne told me,
“Get Thee to New York for Linuxworld Expo”. I did. I’m glad.
In the Illinois hinterlands, friends look quizzically and ask,
“What is this Linux thing?” Unenlightened IT Directors cling to NT
until the blood drains from their fingers. Sometimes, you can’t
help but feel a little “out there”. You know that feeling, don’t
you? C’mon. Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t. I thought so.
That’s why Arne’s admonition was so right and why you should make
every effort to attend one of these parties.
You will bask in the rejuvenating breeze of penguin feathers
fluttering on electric winds of energy, ambition and plain old
fashioned hope. Deals are made right and left, but so are
friends. In this room the penguin is not a flightless bird. It is
also a bird that remembers its roots. LWE has an org pavilion where
folks like LiviD, Debian, kDE and so on gather and meet the
faithful. Try finding something like that at at Windows World.
My treatment began yesterday when I began wandering the show in
a sleep deprived fog. Almost immediately, I found Jon “Maddog” Hall
at the Linux International booth, playing the approachable Buddha,
chatting amiably with any and all comers. I got to meet the Linux
Today gang’s meat suits, having known the people within online for
some time. I chatted with David Faure and Kurt Ganroth of KDE and
feel both their pride and excitement in the upcoming (no, I don’t
know when) KDE 2.0 release. I even survived chastisement and
humiliation at improperly referring to kfm as konquerer (sorry,
David. The real konquerer sounds tres cool).
From people like Jim Graham of CodeWeavers (think Twine. Guess
what their freebie is!) to Matthew at the Livid booth, to the gang
at The Linux Show, clued-in energy abounds. I even saw Alan Cox up
close and personal (Note to better half: I need a bigger monitor. I
thought Alan was a leprechaun. He’s not) I couldn’t convince
O’Reilly to give me a book deal (“No, really. I see science fiction
as a natural extension of ‘Running Linux’, don’t you?”), but I
haven’t given up yet.
Fast, slow, hot, cool, young, not-so-young, we are a diverse and
interesting crowd. You owe it to yourself to attend one of these
get-togethers. Think of it as chicken soup for the inner penguin.
Sratch that. Think intensive care. It’ll make the next cocked head
and “What’s Linux” a little easier to take.