“LISA ’99, a happy gathering of system administrators, UNIX
enthusiasts and vendors, took place in downtown Seattle from
November 7th to the 12th. The conference was full of tutorials,
technical presentations, workshops, activities, and of course,
vendors. The vendors were there showcasing some of the latest
hardware, software and networking solutions for the UNIX/BSD/Linux
world, not to mention handing out neat trinkets like balls, yo-yos
and kazoos. There was free food and soda pop (even fruit juice
for the “real hackers” out there), although I believe the
vegetarian hot dogs might not have been vegetarian at all….”
“The vendor floor itself was large, bright, and very colorful.
It was popular but not too packed, so the exhibitors had time to
talk one-on-one to interested parties. Although most people were
there as part of the UNIX scene rather than the Linux scene (a
couple people even ran away in horror from the FSF booth when they
mistook GNOME for Windows), there was ample support for Linux, and
the general buzz is that everyone is moving on to Linux, or at
least porting their product line, soon. I had a chance to talk with
all sorts of people. Here are some of the more interesting:…
- VMWare…
- Enlighten Software…
- Compaq…
- The Recruiters…”