Press releases

2003 O'Reilly Open Source Convention Call For Participation: Embracing and Extending Proprietary Software

Press release: January 7, 2003

Sebastopol, CA--O'Reilly & Associates invites programmers, developers, strategists, and technical staff to submit proposals to lead tutorial and conference sessions at the 2003 Open Source Software Convention, slated for July 7-11 in Portland, OR. Proposals are due February 15, 2003.

The open source community has counted its enterprise successes pretty darn sweet of late--Linux and other open source tools are being adopted by supercomputing institutions and by governments around the globe; Perl is a cornerstone in emerging fields such as bioinformatics. Proprietary software vendors are setting aside their supercilious attitude towards open source, and have begun incorporating open source aspects into their product offerings. This melding of the open source and the commercial in operating systems and applications is becoming the norm, for financial and technical reasons, making open standards for data exchange and service interoperability essential.

The O'Reilly Open Source Convention is the central gathering place for the open source community to exchange ideas for resolving integration issues, pushing technical boundaries, and maximizing the benefits of both open source and proprietary software. The following tracks and conferences will be featured at the convention:

  • Perl Conference 7: Perl 5, Perl 6, Parrot, and mod_perl, including useful modules, software development tips, developing for Parrot and Perl 6

  • The Python 11 Conference: Python and Zope, in particular using the latest modules, software engineering, case studies

  • PHP Conference 3: Unix, Windows, Apache, plus new developments, security, case studies, large-scale applications development, best practices

  • Apache: The Apache web server, including 2.0, modules, configuration, performance tuning, security

  • Apache XML: Apache XML projects--Xerces, Xalan, Cocoon, FOP, SOAP, XML-RPC, XML Security

  • Apache Java: Apache and other open-source Java projects such as Jakarta, Jserv, Avalon

  • XML: schemas, software, standards, best practices, web services, and IP issues around standards and schemas

  • Applications: system administration tools, servers, back office utilities, GUI systems, user applications, productivity tools

  • MySQL and PostgreSQL: configuration, migration, data warehousing, tuning, clustering and replication, fallover, backups, efficient client-side processing and query design

  • Ruby: introductions to aspects of Ruby for people unfamiliar with the language, and power user talks for experienced Ruby programmers

Proposals that emphasize practical knowledge over theoretical are particularly welcome, especially presentations that explicate best practices for a tool or system, new features or modules, fundamental skills, or case studies showing how open source software solved thorny problems or replaced expensive closed source software. Individuals and companies interested in making presentations, giving a tutorial, or participating in panel discussions are invited to submit proposals for tutorials and convention presentations (sessions). Presentations by marketing staff or with a marketing focus will not be accepted; neither will submissions made by anyone other than the proposed speaker.

Session presentations are 45 or 90 minutes long, and tutorials are either a half-day (3 hours) or a full day (6 hours). If you are interested in participating in or moderating panel discussions, or otherwise contributing to the convention, please let us know, including your area of expertise. If you have an idea for a panel discussion or a particularly provocative group of panelists that you'd love to see square off, feel free to send your suggestions to oscon-idea@oreilly.com.

All presenters whose talks are accepted (excluding Lightning Talks) will receive free registration at the conference. For each half-day tutorial, the presenter receives one night's accommodation, a limited travel allowance, and an honorarium. Proposal deadline is February 15, 2003; speakers will be notified by March 15, 2003. Registration opens in April 2003. For more conference details and to submit a proposal, visit http://conferences.oreillynet.com/os2003/.

Additional Resources:

Comments about the 2002 O'Reilly Open Source Convention:

"The conference was just excellent and the community, experience and discussions from the keynotes, with the attendees and the speakers were invaluable for me and my two collegues."
--Jonagustine Lim, eGovernment Team Specialist, State of Hawaii

"I am really looking forward to the Open Source Convention. IMHO I think it is the best event I attend every year."
--Stacey Quandt, Industry Analyst, Linux and Open Source, Giga Information Group

"...hordes of volunteer programmers who make up the open-source movement met this week for their annual convention in San Diego..."
--The Economist, July 25, 2002

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