A cornucopia of all things Linux and Open Source

SCaLE 8x

By Amber Graner

Perky Jerky [1] was just one of the many things attendees of the 8th annual Southern California Linux Expo (SCaLE 8x) could sample, along with the veritable cornucopia of Linux and open source food for thought that was served in Los Angeles in February.

SCaLE 8x kicked off on Friday, February 19 with a series of specialty events [2] that included WIOS (Women in Open Source) Ubucon (mini-Ubuntu conferences), FAD (Fedora Activity Day), Zenoss Community Day, and others. One of the highlights from the WIOS event was a session given by two 12-year-olds (Malaki Wade and Miranin Cafiero) and one 8-year-old (Saska Wade). Their presentation, titled "Ultimate Randomness - Girls Voices in Open Source," was well attended and sent a message that neither age nor gender matters for success in open source, just the willingness to learn and to try something new. Friday events concluded with UpSCaLE talks [3], in which speakers had 20 slides set to auto-forward every 15 seconds and five minutes to present their topic. These talks were fast-paced and informative and made sure that attendees ended the day with enthusiasm and laughter.

More than 1,400 people attended SCaLE 8x; the hallways in both the exhibit area and the session areas were always full - of people, conversation, and excitement. So much information is shared at these events that the "hallway" tracks become as important as the scheduled events.

The Saturday sessions began with Karsten Wade (Figure 1), Sr. Community Gardener, Red Hat, and his keynote on "Being a Catalyst in Communities - The Scientific Facts about the Open Source Way" [4]. There were five session tracks, including a developer track and a beginner track. The speakers on Saturday included Jono Bacon, Bradley Kuhn, Josh Berkus, and Emma Jane Hogbin. The "Learning Python for Non-Programmers," given by first-time SCaLE speaker Diana Chen, had people talking. Chen was new to open source in 2009 and in 2010 is now eagerly sharing her newfound knowledge with others, as well as demonstrating with grace how to overcome the challenges of using a borrowed laptop and installing what is needed for a presentation on the fly.

Figure 1: Karsten Wade speaks to a packed room. (Photo by Dennis Rex)

Sunday sessions were well attended; the lineup included Akanna Peck, Justin Erenkrantz, Randal L. Schwartz, Jon Cruz, and many more open source rock stars. The keynote, "So, You Think You Want to Start an Open Source Business," was given by Tarus Balog, CEO of The OpenNMS Group, Inc. This talk was not a "how-to" guide to open source business, but rather a discussion of what to avoid presented in an entertaining and engaging way that was both fun for the audience and the presenter.

Many first-time attendees walked into the exhibit area uttering "wow" and "I didn't know there was all this" - and who could blame them? With more than 40 dotORGs in combination with 30+ open source corporations, there was as much to learn on the exhibit floor as in the daily sessions. There was even a way to contribute to open source projects by visiting booths, answering questions, giving feedback, or participating in hardware testing offered by some distributions.

An example of this type of interactivity was the ongoing Ubuntu initiative to test as much hardware as possible on the upcoming release - 10.04 Lucid Lynx. However, walking around the floor at any given time, you could hear attendees offering feedback about open source products, services, and distributions. Feedback is welcomed and encouraged in open source, and events like SCaLE 8x are great venues for communication and contributions, such as honest critiques.

If you were unable to attend SCaLE 8x, the keynotes and the UpSCaLE talks are available online [5]. SCaLE 8x was educational, exciting, and full of encouragement and enthusiasm for everyone interested in open source.

SCaLE 8x left no stone unturned, offering tutorials, events geared toward unique distributions, and tracks for the novice open source user, as well as for those developers who came looking for their next project idea.

So, whether you were hungry for open source knowledge or you just wanted a taste of Perky Jerky, SCaLE 8x rose to the challenge and met the needs of the attendees.