“If previous LinuxWorld events were anything to go by, you’d
imagine hackers fortifying the defences against the invading hordes
of suits. But in this month’s event in London, the suits and
sandals achieved a kind of happy equilibrium, with corporate
representatives competing to establish their roots in the
community, and the hackers in the .ORG village making a notable
effort to appear more professional. Even the two desktop
environments, KDE and GNOME, put aside their holy war to exhibit
under the common banner of freedesktop.org.“Of course, being a trade show, LinuxWorld London wasn’t without
its fatuous exhibition features. Where earlier this year we were
treated to a real helicopter hooked up to Flight Gear, this time
around Hewlett-Packard brought in a Formula 1 racing car to show
off its involvement with the WilliamsF1 team…”