UDS-P
November 6, 2011
Last week was UDS-P (Ubuntu Developer Summit, P for the Precise Pangolin release) in Orlando, a semiannual Ubuntu conference for developers, leaders, enthusiasts, and other members of the community. They had lots and lots of interesting sessions. I caught one particularly interesting presentation by Keith Burgelt, the CEO of Open Invention Network (aka OIN, an industry company that exists to protect GNU/Linux against patent infringement lawsuits brought against it by companies like Microsoft, read more here http://www.openinventionnetwork.com/about.php), entitled “Patent Wars.” Bryan and I also attended a rapid-fire multi-speaker session put on by Ubuntu’s Testing team.
Linaro was holding Linaro Connect, an event that ran concurrently with UDS, and many of the conference monitors on the premises were run by Pandaboards (http://pandaboard.org/). I’m going to have to buy myself one of these things!
Wednesday night the Florida LoCo hosted a classic horror movie night. We all got together and watched Elvira present Night of the Living Dead, which itnet7, zoopster, and I picked up earlier that day. We sat around, watching the movie, munching on popcorn and candy, and talking about OpenPrinting (http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/openprinting) with Till Kamppeter, one of the project’s developers working for The Linux Foundation.
I met with members of the Ubuntu Florida LoCo whom I had not met before (maxolasersquad, govatent, and chloric), and caught up with other familiar members. It was great to see everyone in person again. Friday night was the closing party, and we ate, danced, played foosball and air hockey, juggled, and listened to live music. We also enjoyed some freshly made ice cream, frozen with liquid nitrogen. Everything was going swimmingly until govatent and chloric decided to bring out this Finnish anise-flavored candy (http://www.suomikauppa.fi/product_info.php?products_id=67). I tried a piece, and I tolerated it for about 2/3 of the time, but the center of this candy holds a surprise for anyone who makes it that far. Purchase some and try it for yourself to see, but in the meantime, it suffices to say that a single piece of this candy scared the carbonation right out of a glass of Sprite, and we fully expect it could be used in place of a mothball, a chlorine pellet, a gasoline additive, or a dishwasher detergent pack.
Guests were encouraged to come to the party in costume. I spotted The Hulk, Spiderman, a couple Wonder Women, a Shadowman (http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_leuaosP3IN1qg99qqo1_500.jpg), a beer keg, and last-but-not-least, Indika and I had the great privilege of meeting Mr. Mark Shuttleworth himself.
Thank you to mhall119 and michelleq for hosting the cookout for the Ubuntu Florida LoCo. It was great to see you again and meet members of our team and other (international!) teams.