Press releases

Explore the State of the Art of Open Source at the 2005 O'Reilly Open Source Convention

Press release: February 1, 2005

Convention Call for Participation Is Now Open

Sebastopol, CA--Since 1999, OSCON, the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, has been the central gathering place for people who are passionate about exploring the state of the art of open source and free technologies. The tradition continues with the opening of the Call for Proposals for OSCON 2005. Open source leaders, innovators, hackers, and programmers are encouraged to submit proposals to speak at OSCON, which is scheduled for August 1-5 in Portland, Oregon. Proposals are due no later than February 13, 2005.

The market for open source products and services has never looked rosier, but with success comes complexity and challenges. This year's OSCON investigates how software development is moving to another level, and how developers and businesses are adjusting to new business models and architectures.

Specific topics and tracks at OSCON 2005 include: Linux 2.6 and other open source operating systems, Java 1.5, PHP 5, Python, Perl 6, Databases (including MySQL and PostgreSQL), Apache, XML, Applications, Ruby, Security, Plone, Ubuntu, and Knoppix. Proposals for sessions (45-90 minutes), tutorials (3-6 hours), panels, and workshops that appeal to all levels of developers, systems and network administrators, and their managers in the following areas would be particularly welcome:

  • Aspects of building applications, services, and systems that use the new capabilities of the open source platform
  • Burning issues for Mozilla, web apps, and beyond
  • The commoditization of software: who and/or what can show us the money?
  • Network-enabled collaboration
  • Software customizability, including software as a service
  • Law, licensing, politics, migration, standards, and how best to navigate other choppy waters
  • As companies of all sizes and industries take the open source plunge, how is the open source landscape adjusting?
  • OSCON 2005 is already taking shape: Mitchell Baker of Mozilla is the first to sign on as a plenary speaker. The full speaker roster will be developed by a committee of long-time members of the open source community, chaired by Nathan Torkington, that includes Daniel Steinberg, Adam Trachtenberg, Guido van Rossum, Allison Randal, Edd Dumbill, Josh Berkus, Jeremy Zawodny, Sam Ruby, Matt Sergeant, Glen Vanderburg, and Stas Bekman.

    "Open source is a forest fire, burning down the markets for proprietary operating systems and content development platforms," observed Torkington. "This year, we'll fan the flames and look at the businesses thriving in the path cleared by the inferno."

    Registration for the 2005 O'Reilly Open Source Convention opens in April; hotel and program information will be available shortly.

    Additional Resources:

  • All the conference details, including the proposal submission form
  • Send suggestions--topics to be covered, groups to invite into the OSCON fold, extra-curricular activities and ideas--to oscon-idea@oreilly.com
  • Press coverage, blogs, photos, and news from the 2004 O'Reilly Open Source Convention
  • For information on exhibition and sponsorship opportunities at O'Reilly conferences, contact Andrew Calvo at (707) 827-7176, or andrewc@oreilly.com
  • To become a media sponsor, contact Margi Levin at (707) 827-7184, or margi@oreilly.com
  • About O’Reilly

    O’Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O’Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying “faint signals” from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.

    Email a link to this press release