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January 26, 2006
Business meets Open Source - some for the first time
I decided to go for the 2 hr WiFi for 9€ in the hotel, so now I at least can catch up on my email and blog some initial impressions from the conference.
About 400 (mainly male) attendees dressed in suits attending an Open Source conference is kind of strange - but you get used to it. This really is more of a conference where business types are finding out about Open Source from other business types. The sessions are almost completely held by companies who are using Open Source (mostly Linux or LAMP) in some way and who are sharing their views and opinions on the subject.
While in general, most companies are now favorable to Open Source, they are still not quite "there". In particular I get the distinct feeling that while many companies profit from using Open Source in their IT infrastructures, they are not (yet?) prepared to really become full members of the underlying communities. A couple of quotes from speakers showed that they expect the community (i.e not themselves) to adapt Open Source for enterprise scenarios. They were quick to add that "of course" they provide bug-fixes to the community but when it comes to extending or adapting the software for their needs, they expect the community to do that for them. Audience members were quick to point out that everyone is part of that community. However, Open Source fans in large corporations, such as banks, are still finding it difficult to get management to agree to a deeper participation it seems. Hopefully that will change soon.
In all, it is a very formal affair, and I'm already looking forward to OSBC, when I can hopefully leave my suit on this side of the Atlantic.
Posted by Matthew at January 26, 2006 11:37 PM
Comments
Ooohh...so you *do* have a suit ;-)
Posted by: Bertrand Delacretaz at January 27, 2006 01:32 AM