“The Singapore Linux Conference/LinuxWorld Singapore 2001 was
held on March 21 to 24. LWN editor Liz Coolbaugh was able to attend
and speak at this conference. Below you’ll find her overall
impressions of the event; see also the following writups of
specific happenings at the conference….”
“This being my first event in Singapore, and indeed, anywhere in
Asia, it is likely that I’m missing the necessary information to
draw a firm conclusion. However, from my brief stay, and from
Singapore’s historical status as a Free Trading post and now as a
unique commercial state, I would guess that a lot of the people who
came last year weren’t using Linux and weren’t even sure they
wanted to use Linux. They came because the US stock market
indicated somebody somewhere was “making money from Linux” and they
came to find out how and why. Now that the stock market craze is
gone, the conference has diminished to those who are already using
Linux or are interested in making money with Linux, that is, using
Linux or other Open Source software to make their companies more
efficient, more stable, more competitive, for less monetary
outlay.”
“I was told, informally, that the situation in Singapore is not
the same as in Indonesia and Malaysia. The relative wealth of
Singapore makes commercial software both the profit center for many
of their large companies and the financial issues of software
licensing less of a concern. In other, less-wealthy areas, the
cost-savings issues have driven Linux to a higher prominence. I
certainly hope to get an opportunity in the future to visit other
regions in Asia/South Pacific to get a better feel for the
similarities and differences.”