Sebastopol, CA--Nearly 1,300 programmers, geeks, hackers, and open
source advocates eagerly descended on San Diego, CA on July 22-26,
bringing the 2002 O'Reilly
Open Source Convention to life.
A notable theme of this year's event was "hybridization": commercial
software vendors opening part of their code for community scrutiny and
tinkering, and open source developers finding innovative ways for their
tools to create income. The blurring of boundaries between commercial
and open source ventures expands the options for all developers.
Two announcements made during the convention particularly illustrated
the trend towards acknowledging a place for open source tools in
proprietary enterprises. RealNetworks Chairman and CEO, Rob Glaser,
detailed his company's new Helix Initiative, a collaborative effort
between RealNetworks, independent developers, and leading companies to
create and extend the Helix DNA platform, the first open and
comprehensive platform for digital media delivery. Just hours after the
RealNetworks presentation, Covalent announced that Apache 2.0,
available in Covalent's Enterprise Ready Server, is now compatible with
Microsoft ASP.NET, allowing Windows .NET web services applications to
be run, for the first time, with the Apache web server.
The variety of the attendees' affiliations also points to open source
software's more widespread integration into the mainstream commercial
sector. Representatives from industries such as government, aerospace,
computers and semiconductors, telecommuniations, finance, insurance,
accounting, media, and pharmaceuticals rubbed shoulders with hardcore
technical types.
Additional highlights of the conference include:
A panel discussion of how open source tools are used by government
agencies around the world
Larry Wall's annual State of the Onion Address, and his introduction
of Perl 6 with Damian Conway
Richard Stallman advocating free software, capped by his donning of
"St. IGNUcius" garb, complete with halo
Larry Lessig's call to action to prevent stymieing of technological
innovation by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
A state-of-the-art connectivity room provided by Apple, a first-time
Platinum Sponsor
At the last minute, Bruce Perens decided to quash his plan to defy the
DMCA by demonstrating how to break region coding in a DVD player, at
the request of his employer, Hewlett-Packard.
O'Reilly editor Andy Oram summed up this year's event: "The threats to
liberty and innovation are powerful and dangerous. But more and more
people have not only tasted the pleasures of technological freedom,
they have also built their lives, their careers, even their identities
upon it...All the indications at this year's convention suggest that
open source and the draw of community will continue to thrive and
expand."
The Python 11 Conference will be a part of next year's O'Reilly Open
Source Convention, slated for July 7-11, 2003 (location to be
determined). Plans are already in the works for special events during
the 2003 convention, to celebrate the company's 25th Anniversary.
Exhibition and Sponsorship
If you are interested in exhibiting at or becoming a sponsor of a
future conference, contact Andrew Calvo at 707-827-7176, or
andrewc@oreilly.com.
Additional Resources
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