For the first time, programmers, webmasters, and system administrators can find--under one roof--a spectrum of high-end technical sessions, presented by the key developers in each technology. In real-world applications, users draw on several Open Source technologies to get the job done. At the O'Reilly Conferences on Perl, Linux, FreeBSD, Apache, Sendmail and other Open Source technologies, attendees can move freely between Conferences, choosing from a rich panoply of sessions on these interrelated technologies. In addition, each Conference is preceded by in-depth tutorials.

Open Source software has achieved dramatic gains in credibility and market share in the seven months since Tim O'Reilly, President and CEO of O'Reilly & Associates, hosted the historic Open Source Summit that first brought together the creators of Linux, Perl, Apache, Sendmail, Tcl, Python, and Netscape's mozilla. It was at that meeting that these leaders agreed to adopt Eric Raymond's term "Open Source" for the powerful development methodology their products share, and to work together to promote the value and importance of the software developed by the Open Source community. In August 1998, O'Reilly's Perl Conference 2.0 and Open Source Developer Day drew enthusiastic crowds of Open Source supporters.

"Conferences are a natural extension of our efforts to alleviate 'information pain' with our books and software, and they create a magic that happens only when people gather face-to-face," noted O'Reilly. "There's been a heady air of discovery and sharing at our Perl Conferences. They've been true community events. We're excited about bringing that spirit to the wider Open Source community."

Bob Young, CEO of Red Hat Software, said, "O'Reilly's Linux Conference is a welcome addition to the resources available to the growing Linux technical community. We're glad to see them bring their independent, authoritative approach to the conference arena."

Linux Journal is a major sponsor of O'Reilly's Linux Conference. Publisher Phil Hughes said, "Since the early days, O'Reilly has been documenting Linux and the open source utilities that Linux users depend on. They're very close to the technical community, and they'll bring that inside perspective to their Linux Conference. We're looking forward to working with them."

"We at Sendmail are happy to support this new O'Reilly project," said Greg Olson, CEO of Sendmail, Inc. "O'Reilly is the natural group to pull the Open Source community together around a conference."

Jordan Hubbard of the FreeBSD project stated, "FreeBSD is happy to support this new O'Reilly venture. O'Reilly already has wide appeal within the Open Source community and we look forward to working with them in promoting all aspects of the Open Source movement."

For more information on the O'Reilly Open Source Conferences, go to http://conferences.oreilly.com.