FS+OS conference (Was: Contributing)

  • Thread starter Harald Albrecht
  • Start date
H

Thread Starter

Harald Albrecht

> Well, Harald, Despite my ignorance of Linux
> affairs in Europe, I mean well :^) Do you
> want all the PR I can generate or do you think
> the cause is better served otherwise?

Curt,

thank you very much for your offer. Good PR is
never bad(tm). But once again, I want to make
sure that this conference is not perceived as
yet another Linux fair. While GNU/Linux will
probably be mentioned -- rms (FSF), Dirk Hohndel
(SuSE) and Christoph Rohland (SAP LinuxLab) will
give talks -- it is not the main subject.
Instead, the focus is on business models for the
Automation Industry basing on and using Free
Software (or, if this can not be avoided, Open
Source).

For instance, a patent attorney from the US will
talk about the patent and IP situation in North
America, while a German professor from the
famous "Max Planck Gesellschaft" will talk about
protecting open source software using economy
law. In addition we shall have a speaker from
the German Ministry of Commerce and Technology --
her speech is entitled "software patents --
blessing or curse for the european software
industry". Not to forget Diether Schaudel (CTO
Endress+Hauser) talking about patents and
standards, surely a hot topic in automation
(grin).

ISA also arranges a conference under the topic
of "Open Systems" (see
http://www.isa.org/tcopensys.html)

Harald

--
Harald Albrecht
Chair of Process Control Engineering
RWTH Aachen University of Technology
Turmstrasse 46, D-52064 Aachen, Germany
Tel.: +49 241 80-7703, Fax: +49 241 8888-238

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Harald Albrecht

Curt,

> As you wish. I am not optimistic about change
> without some real substantial push from users
> and the var/consultant camp. I expect lip service.

That sounds rather sarcastic. When I mentioned people I met during the last years I did already sort out the large bunch of lip servicing people. We're not going to talk with marketing
spinmeisters or let them talk there and we already sorted out some projects or people which we were afraid of would only talk about their product but not about the ideas, problems and solutions of incorporating free software.

Please look at the title of the conference. On purpose, it mentions the term "Free Software" in the first place. We did invite rms (of FSF fame) on purpose because he isn't one of the soft "open
source guys", which probably please everyone. He definetely has a standpoint and the voice to be heard -- he is not a soft gnu puppet. I'm curious whether we will see a "gcc": a "GNU culture clash" (sorry, I couldn't resist the pun), when FSF meets automation.

From the speakers list and the titles it should be clear that the conference tries to be some kind of cristalization origin. For instance, Christoph Roland, which is one of the speakers, works at SAP's LinuxLab and has contributed the POSIX compatible shmem virtual file system. In addition, he regulary drives new kernels to
madness using 8 cpu systems to make sure that the 2.4 kernel will even run as a clockwork on really heavy loads. Personally, I think that his talk about how a company like SAP sees and works with Free Software will surely be interesting.

Also don't forget the audience. It is not a flock of sheep; the audience will judge the speakers. If one of the speakers can not get his message accross or only does lip service, it will be
appearent. As speakers are representants of their companies, this will fall back to some degree to these companies. It may take some time but it will take place. We already saw some mighty
automation giants on all continents separating and then coming back after few years because they could not treat their customers like children all the time. We have a saying here in Germany:
"Everyone is the smith of this luck".

Harald

--
Harald Albrecht
Chair of Process Control Engineering
RWTH Aachen University of Technology
Turmstrasse 46, D-52064 Aachen, Germany
Tel.: +49 241 80-7703, Fax: +49 241 8888-238

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LinuxPLC mailing list
[email protected]
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Harald Albrecht

Hello Curt,

> Don't get me wrong, I did not mean to deride
> your efforts

I never understand it that way, so angst for
flame :)

> and I am absolutely sure the
> FS/OSS guys are sincere. It's just that the
> automation vendors are all open already, just
> look at their advertising :^)

...no comment on this one, glad *you* said that.
From ISA Expo 2000 I brought back some funny
advertising, we almost chooked ourselves to
death. Especially since ads sometimes get a
really nice pun when you do bloody translations
of them into the German language.

;)

Harald

--
Harald Albrecht
Chair of Process Control Engineering
RWTH Aachen University of Technology
Turmstrasse 46, D-52064 Aachen, Germany
Tel.: +49 241 80-7703, Fax: +49 241 8888-238

_______________________________________________
LinuxPLC mailing list
[email protected]
http://linuxplc.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxplc
 
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