"In lean times, the hardiest things flourish..."
--O'Reilly founder and president Tim O'Reilly
Sebastopol, CA--Registration has just opened for the 2002 O'Reilly Open Source Convention, one of the most anticipated annual technical conferences for the open source community. Creators, practitioners, and hackers come together once again at the Sheraton Hotel and Marina in sunny San Diego, California, July 22-26, 2002.
Open source software has grown from radical business choice to solid, mainstream option. Major corporations that once scoffed at or resisted using open source tools are now embracing them as a viable and economical alternative. In 1997, O'Reilly debuted its first Perl Conference; since then, the convention has grown up with the open source movement, becoming both a focal point for recognizing its successes and a flash point for continued open source innovation.
The O'Reilly Open Source Convention distills open source values into programs designed to share information, transfer skills, and integrate grassroots organizations and prime movers into the burgeoning open source community. The 2002 Convention will be juiced by all the sessions, personalities, and events that perennial conventioneers have come to expect, including:
- Thought-provoking keynote presentations by legal conscience Lawrence Lessig, and by the leader of the free software movement, Richard Stallman.
- This year's convention highlights the open source aspects of bioinformatics, with keynote addresses slated from Ewan Birney and James Kent.
- Bioinformatician Lincoln Stein offers a "Network Programming with Perl" tutorial.
- James Duncan Davidson describes the best of many worlds with an "Open Source and Java: Lessons from the Apache Experience" presentation.
- Mono project leader Miguel de Icaza explains how to develop an application in the open source implementation of Microsoft's Common Language Runtime.
- Python tamer Guido van Rossum delivers a "State of the Python Union" address.
Conferences Within the Convention
Perl Conference 6
Perl legends and great entertainers Larry Wall and Damian Conway introduce Perl 6, the latest edition of the leading general purpose scripting language. Participants in this conference focus on the here-and-now (Perl 5, new modules, XML and web services) as well as the future (Perl 6 and Parrot).
PHP Conference 2
Responsible for over 7 million domains, PHP is a leading open source development language. The conference showcases PHP and Unix, Windows, Apache, security, new developments, case studies, large-scale applications development, and best practices. Go to "PHP 4.1 and Beyond" with Rasmus Lerdorf, PHP Project founder.
XTech2002 XML Conference
XML is the key to that new buzz phrase, web services. This conference cuts through the hype by covering present essentials, as well as what's coming down the pike: web services, topic maps, integration with relational databases, parsing, transformations, SVG, and standards and schemas.
Featured Tracks
- Python, with an emphasis on Zope
- Apache Web Server, specifically 2.0, modules, configuration, and performance tuning
- Java, featuring Jakarta, Jserv, Ant, and Jboss
- Operating Systems: Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, OS X
- Databases, focusing on MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redhat B, SAPDB, Berkeley DB
- Emerging topics, such as gaming, shared source and government projects
Hit the Books, then Hit the Beach
Get ready to roll up your trousers and wiggle your toes in the sand: the convention hotel is steps away from the warm Pacific. Don't worry about leaving the family behind during summer vacation--even if your 10-year-old daughter isn't a hacker (yet), bring 'em along. Once again we're offering a Kids World option to attendees, as well as free shuttle buses to area attractions.
Sponsorship Information
For the first time, Apple has signed on as a Platinum Sponsor. For more information regarding exhibition or sponsorship opportunities at the convention, contact Andrew Calvo at 707-827-7176, or andrewc@oreilly.com.
Additional Resources
More information about the 2002 O'Reilly Open Source Convention
Free as in Freedom, a biography of Richard Stallman by Sam Williams
Information on the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, May 13-16, 2002 in Santa Clara, CA
Click over regularly to the O'Reilly Network's open source DevCenter if you're hungry for more open source news
Miss last year's Convention? (Craig Mundie's Shared Source presentation was a doozy!) Check out press coverage of the 2001 event.
Words About the 2001 Open Source Convention
"It's a rare thing to attend a computing conference where something actually happens--here, instead of people waxing profound on the possibilities of this technology or that (in between coffee breaks), you get a surprise announcement that's certain to shake up the world as we know it. But there's a sense here this week that this conference--the O'Reilly Open Source Convention--might be one of those that amounts to something: Minds will be changed. People will see the light. The world will be better after this."
--Farhad Manjoo, Wired, July 25, 2001"O'Reilly's Open Source Conference (OSCON) is easily the most interesting technical event I attend every year. Each day at the conference I get the chance to talk with brilliant, passionate people who have done amazing work. I doubt that in the course of my life I will ever be in a place where the average IQ or level of dedication is any higher."
--WebMonkey, August 2, 2001
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