Portland Is an Open Source Kind of Place
by Derrick StoryNetwork Newsletter for 07/23/2003
Dear Reader,
If you've seen any of the follow-up news from our recent Open Source Convention in Portland, Oregon, you've probably heard that the conference was a big success. I think you can attribute the success to all sorts of reasons, such as a strong program and a slightly more positive economic outlook. But having attended this event four years in a row, I think I'm also going to give lots of the credit to the thriving open source community in Portland.
Our previous two venues were in San Diego, California. It's a wonderful place to see Shamu at SeaWorld or visit its world famous zoo. But the term "open source" isn't exactly an every day uttering in that tourist town. Portland, on the other hand, has a very high "geek to normal person" ratio, plus developers have Powell's Technical Books to browse through when they feel like taking a stroll away from the computer screen.
In recent months, we've had the likes of O'Reilly heavy hitters Rael Dornfest, chromatic, and James Duncan Davidson relocate to the Portland area. Yes, the beer is good there, but I think there were other motives involved. And once the convention began earlier this month, I saw a glimmer why. The O'Reilly event was greeted, and supported, with open arms by our friends in the great Northwest.
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I haven't heard what the final plans are for next year's OSCON location. But if it were up to me, I'd go back to that open source kind of place we know as Portland.
Until next week,
-Derrick
Derrick Story
O'Reilly Network Managing Editor
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