Debconf 5
Even though I said I would update my blog during the conference, I only managed to write one entry. Around 300 people came from all around the world to Helsinki. I met people from Brazil, Mexico, United States, New Zealand, Japan, Russia and from many European countries. Even though other people managed to write insane amounts of mail to the debconf mailing list and fill planet debian, I never found enough time to sit down and write something. There was always someone to listen to, someone to talk to, some beer to drink, some waffles to eat. Apart from issues with the wireless net, which the organizers were not allowed to solve, the whole event was very well organized.
The talks were great. Some speakers spoke a bit too soft or were a bit too unsure of their English skills, but they were all interesting. I didn’t go to all of them though. I missed the talks in the beginning of the week, and almost all talks that were too early for me. Some talks were scheduled at the same time as others, so you had to choose which sounded best.
The most interesting talk for me was given by Mark Shuttleworth. As expected, he talked a bit about himself, why he became the person he is today and what he wanted to do for Debian and free software in general, and for Ubuntu in particular. I have read about him but it wasn’t until I met him that I could get a real picture of him. Is he evil or not? As he himself admitted, money is the root of all evil and his plan (with Ubuntu, Bazaar and Launchpad) is world domination, so yeah, he is evil. He is very charming and easy to talk with. Very unlike the image I have of people with lots of money and power. He really cares about free software, not just in the business sense, that he thinks it is far superior than proprietary software. I think I will welcome our new evil overlord.
The whole event took place at Helsinki University, which actually is in Espoo, a bit outside Helsinki. Most people stayed at the dorms. I was very surprised that they had managed to empty an entire house just for us, but it turned out this building was recently built. Apparently the Para World/European Championship which will take place there in August.
There was a sauna close by the dorms, which at least over hundred people tried on Wednesday evening, the day we arrived. There were two rooms. One small, where only about 6-7 people could squeeze in. I didn’t notice this until I was about to leave. I stayed in the big one, which had room for maybe 40-50 people. Even though it was so big and people went in and out, it kept the heat very well.
The people I talked with most were the Swedes, Per and Erik who were staying in the same room as I and Kalle, and Jonas and Yann who stayed in a room above. Per was the only real Debian developer among us. Erik was a debconf video team volunteer, which meant he went to bed late, the same time as all others, but got up before everyone else, especially me, and spent much time in the video room. Some days we barely saw him. Jonas and Yann also took the same ferry home as we did. We all watched Starship Troopers 2, a really crappy follow up to the first one which I actually liked (I seem to be the only one). As far as bad action movies go, it was quite entertaining.
To be continued…