EncuentroLinux, Chile
I left Mexico on Tuesday and arrived early on Wednesday to Chile for the Fifth Linux Encounter. The timezone difference (two hours, Chile is at UTC-3) is just enough to make me tired (waking up at my natural 4AM is not fun, and I done it two days in a row), but it is worth it. I met the organizers, and some minutes after me, Peter Salus arrived. We came together to Valparaíso (around 1hr away from Santiago), and soon after that started meeting the Chilean users. In the evening, tbm showed up. Besides Peter, Martin and I, the rest of the speakers and attendees are all Chilean - And I really liked it. In most of Latin America (Mexico included), conference organizers (me included, when I organized CONSOL) seem to think that you need to invite as much foreign speakers as possible to make a conference worthy - I now strongly object to this point of view, and have made the point over and over. There are 38 scheduled talks plus at least four BoF sessions. 30 speakers. The conference has around 650 attendees. Last year it received 450, and this year around 500 were expected - Quite well for a small country with a population around 15 million people and with very long travel distances. The organization team is doing a great work, they are constantly nervous and running (as any organizer should be, of course) but things are running quite smoothly. They are taking care of everything for all of the speakers, bringing us to the university, out to lunch, back to the hotel… What I liked most (and, again, I am writing this based on my past experience with CONSOL) is that we the foreigners do not get any special attention that Chileans do not receive - We are just part of the group of speakers. That is the most amazing thing on this conference, and what I will try to promote in my country and in any other conference I am invited to. This conference has a good deal of visibility. We (Fernando San Martín, Max Celedon, Rodrigo Henriquez and me) were invited to a TV show, TVNauta, in UCVTV, Chile’s oldest TV station (I will get a digitized version of the program, will inform you later). Even Ricardo Lagos (Chile’s President) was invited to the opening, and was going to attend (although in the end could not do it… Would have been really cool!). There is quite a good deal of interested people. Yesterday I have to admit I ended up tired of talking with different people about my talk (a mixture of my Social aspects in Free Software and Quality assurance in Free Software projects talks), about the Debian project (which has got a lot of interest around here - Chile currently has no DDs, although Bruno Barrera is in the final stages of the NM process… But I can feel more people will get involved). We have today at 18:00 (Chilean time - GMT-3) a Debian BoF (I am not sure on which room it will be, probably you can see it webcasted. This university is quite gorgeous. It is probably some 40 meters over sea level, on a cliff, and overlooking the Valparaíso/Viña del Mar bay. I am typing this looking at boats come and go. Wednesday and Thursday the weather was a bit fucked, but today it is sunny and beautiful, although a little bit cool… Well…Time to go to a conference. I am quite happy with the Free Software movement in this country. And, as I have told many friends, I am amazed by the enthusiasm shown in various countries in South America.
Comments
Gonzalo Pineda 2004-10-23 22:54:34
RE: EncuentroLinux, Chile
Gunnar para mí fue un gran orgullo y gusto que hayas visitado nuestra Universidad, espero ya mañana(domingo 24 ) te puedas relajar un poco de las millones de preguntas que sugaremente te hemos hecho aquí. Simplemente he quedado admirado de tu persona, e intentaré hecharles más de un vistazo al "How you can help" de Debian. ¿Qué te pareció el BoF a tí? Al menos creo que expusimos un par de experiencias. Bueno suerte! espero ver más conferencias tuyas en línea, y pues bueno nada…un GUSTAZO haberlo tenido aquí. PD: como dato anectdótico "stallman" dice que va a venir en enero a Chile!(más free software talks para nuestro país).
Gunnar 2004-10-25 21:24:20
RE: EncuentroLinux, Chile
Claro que sí! La primer conferencia que dí es en realidad un trabajo de carnicero y costurero sobre de <a href="http://www.gwolf.org/soft/qa_soft_libre/">Control de calidad en proyectos de Software Libre</a> y <a href="http://www.gwolf.org/soft/asp_soc_sl">Aspectos sociales del Software Libre</a>. La segunda plática fue de <a href="http://www.gwolf.org/seguridad/princ_red_segura">principios de seguridad en redes TCP/IP</a>.
Gunnar 2004-10-25 21:26:50
RE: EncuentroLinux, Chile
me la pasé muy bien en el congreso, gracias :D Un gustazo, al contrario, el haber sido invitado. Me gustó mucho participar por allá, la comunidad se me hizo muy saludable y activa… Y con la comunidad que tienen, obviamente, el BoF fue todo un éxito.
maria 2004-10-24 11:29:46
RE: EncuentroLinux, Chile
hola gunnar estuvo muy interesante tu ponencia que seguimos iñigo y yo a traves de internet; ¿podrias mandarme el texto?? un saludo Maria
mave 2004-10-26 20:36:34
RE: EncuentroLinux, Chile
Hola Gunnar "chavo del 8"!!! :D
Qué gusto saber que hayas llegado sin novedad de vuelta a tu país! Nosotros por acá, aún estamos ordenando cosas, pero con un gustito muy pero muy rico de haber tenido un gran éxito en este encuentro.
Tu presencia acá en chile nos gustó muchísimo, nos caíste super bien y siempre tuviste la mejor disposición para sonreír y contarnos algún chiste… Realmente nos alegramos mucho con tu presencia.
Espero que nos podamos ver en alguna otra ocasión. Yo por mi parte, ya conseguí las "pascualinas" que me pediste y me las traerán para la próxima semana… asi que te las estaré despachando a penas pueda.
Un abrazo grandote desde chile! Mauricio