One of the trademarks of this event is the level of audience interaction. The talks are not passive events where attendees absorb what is spoken up on some shielded dais. As in the past the event is broken down into three parts (legal, business, and community), plus a keynote. The plan is to have the event recorded, both audio and video, for release in multiple mediums.

Legal

The legal discussion will be on the GPLv3, both the road traveled so far and what the future holds. The process has been extremely open with the community participating in its drafting on an unprecedented level. This panel discussion is a continuation of that effort as well as an examination of that effort.

Business

The corporate panel discussion is not what one would normally expect. There is no real summary description for this panel due to the nature of it. How do you describe an open discussion? I will try. Listening to marketing folks from large companies describe why their open source strategy is the winner is not that interesting or rewarding. The focus here is on the audience and learning from the successes and failures of local companies large and small. Businesses who rely on Open Source are really relying on the communities they foster. The audience is made up of those communities and budding open source based ventures. Here is a chance to discuss the strategies of the day and get a greater understanding for this complex and thriving ecosystem.

Community

For the community section this year we are trying something new. Mark Withington of the Boston PHP group is running a Lightning talk session. These are ~5min presentations by local community members. These can be very exciting. One problem with any conference is that not all topics will interest all people. You also want to have a good range of topics. The purpose of the event is to foster Open Source in Massachusetts. this is done by building relationships and helping connect people. This can be hard for a small event such as ours. Lightning talks offer a great opportunity for this. For the general audience, they are given information dense overviews of topics and events they are interested in. If you are not interested in a topic, just like the local weather, just wait 5min. Presenters, while limited by time, are forced to communicate only the core information they need to get across. The idea is to engage the audience and get them interested in what you have to say. The point is not to answer all the questions an attendee might have for you or your project, but to just get the interested and hungry for more information. After all the talks are completed there will be a break before the keynote and space for attendees to gather and talk to the Lightning Talk presenters. Here is where connections are made and presenters can connect to those who are really interested in what they have to say, and can focus on exactly what people are interested in.

OLPC Keynote

As I have mentioned here and elsewhere, I feel that the software effort behind the OLPC project has been playing second fiddle to the hardware. There has been much attention given to the ‘laptop’, the innovative hardware technology, and some on the ‘child friendly’ interface. Very little has been discussed about the revolutionary new operating system being developed. Did you know the firmware is hardware independent? Did you know that while the kernel is based on Red Hat Fedora, the higher level operating system, including the file system is written in a dynamic interpreted language? Did you know that all you have to do is press a button on the laptop and you get to modify the code for whatever application is currently running? Did you know this is all done securely and using a revolutionary process management system where each process gets its own VM? This is not linux. This is something else entirely, and yes it is 100% open source. I will be handing out the Sugar SDK Live CD which includes a full linux development environment for developing applications for this revolutionary new system.

The Details

Second Annual Open Source Summit
Tuesday, June 19, 2007; 7:30 am registration; 8-12:30 pm
Microsoft, 201 Jones Road, Waltham, MA

Join us for this half-day summit as technology leaders discuss the current state of open source and the implementation of collaborative development models. The program will spotlight innovative open source companies in a rapid fire lightning round session. The summit will culminate with a keynote presentation on OLPC (One Laptop Per Child), an initiative lead by Nicholas Negroponte, as recently featured on 60 Minutes.

8:00 am — Opening Remarks

8:15 am — The Year in Review and the Years to Come: GPL3 and what it tells us about the current and future prospects of free and open source software. A member of each of the four GPL 3 Committees will review the new license, the process by which it was promulgated, and what it all tells us about the current state of free and open source software.

• Karen Copenhaver, Partner, Choate, Hall & Stewart (moderator)
• Ira Heffan, Associate, Goodwin Proctor
• Scott K. Peterson, Senior Counsel, Intellectual Property, Hewlett-Packard Company / Andover, MA
• David Rickerby, Partner, Choate Hall & Stewart

9:00 am — Open Source Strategies

• Jay Batson, EIR, North Bridge Venture Partners (moderator)
• Larry Alston, VP of Corporate Strategy, Iona
• Andy Astor, President and Chief Executive Officer, enterpriseDB
• Craig Dillon, Director of Enterprise Solutions, Microsoft
• Don Fisher, VP of Online Services, Red Hat
• Douglas Heintzman, director of strategy, IBM Software Group
• Justin Steinman, Director of Linux Marketing, Novell

10:00 am — Break

10:15 am — Lightning Rounds – Moderated by Mark Withington, founder & acting president, BostonPHP.org

• Akaza Research – Benjamin Baumann
• Apatar – Renat Khasanshyn, Founder and CEO
• BlackDuck – Jim Berets, Is the Sr Dir of Product Management for BlackDuck
• Drupal – Jay Batson EIR North Bridge Venture Partners
• enterpriseDB – Andy Astor, President and Chief Executive Officer
• IBM – Jean Barlage, Marketing Manager, ISV & Developer Relations
  
• Plone 3.0 – Nate Aune
• Simula Labs DevZuz – David Schwartz, VP, Business Development
• SnapLogic – Mike Pittaro
• SofCheck – Kent Bradford, VP – Sales & Mktg
• SugarCRM – Kelly Ann Bagley, Corporate Account Executive

11:15 am — OLPC Keynote - One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is a non-profit organization aiming to redefine learning and education for the world’s children by providing each child with a specially-developed, innovative, and low-cost laptop. We will introduce the initiative and then dive into the challenging engineering behind the OLPC software platform, covering everything from its unusual firmware to its new child-friendly GUI.

• Ivan Krstic, Director of Security Architecture, OLPC

DIRECTIONS to Microsoft, 201 Jones Road, Waltham

(Interactive Map & Driving Directions also at http://www.microsoft.com/about/companyinformation/usaoffices/northeast/waltham.mspx)

From Downtown/Airport:
Follow 1-93 South to 1-90 West (Mass Turnpike). Mass Turnpike West to Exit 15 (1-95/Rte 128 North). I-95/Rte 128 North to Exit 26 (Route 20 – first exit North of Mass Turnpike). Follow Route 20 East through first stoplight. Take next left turn on Stow Street (following signs for Route 117). Take left at Main Street (Route 117 West) stoplight,then take second left onto Jones Road, at the blinking yellow light. Waltham Weston Corporate Center is located at the end of Jones Road (201 Jones Road). There is a parking garage under the building. Take the elevator to the 6th floor. You can also park in any lot around the building. When you reach the 6th floor, turn left and follow the corridor on your left.

From the South:
I-95/Rte 128 North to Exit 26 (Route 20 – first exit North of Mass Turnpike). Follow Route 20 East through first stoplight. Take next left turn on Stow Street (following signs for Route 117). Take left at Main Street (Route 117 West) stoplight,then take second left onto Jones Road, at the blinking yellow light. Waltham Weston Corporate Center is located at the end of Jones Road (201 Jones Road). There is a parking garage under the building. Take the elevator to the 6th floor. You can also park in any lot around the building. When you reach the 6th floor, turn left and follow the corridor on your left.

From the North:
I-95/Rte 128 South to Exit 26 (Route 20). Continue on rotary following signs for Route 20 East through first stoplight. Take next left turn on Stow Street (following signs for Route 117). Take left at Main Street (Route 117 West) stoplight,then take second left onto Jones Road, at the blinking yellow light. Waltham Weston Corporate Center is located at the end of Jones Road (201 Jones Road). There is a parking garage under the building. Take the elevator to the 6th floor. You can also park in any lot around the building. When you reach the 6th floor, turn left and follow the corridor on your left.

1. 15 new Yew shrubs planted in the back yard (NEE!)
2. All the beds cut, weeded, trimmed, pruned, and a huge new bed one roughed out
3. First half of the border stones are in, awaiting four yards of mulch
4. New feature productized in the engine after four years of research and development
5. Re-re-re-re-re-re-re-learned how complex SWIG typemaps can get
6. Learned how roundup differs from trac, and how it does not (conference paper submission and review, NICE!)
7. Created a detailed list of new features and code snippits to incorporate into the PyCon-Tech code base (dynamic schema creation rocks!)
8. Was present at two very successful python meetups (can’t really take credit for their success, but I actually made it to them on time!)
9. Wrapping my brain around multi-threading (ipython + Stackless + scipy + matplotlib = my new shell; too bad matplotlib is not thread safe on win32)
10. Got the LightScribe CD art done for a set of Sugar Live CD’s I am planning on burning

I have 6 other blog posts started (most very short). All last week I was sleep deprived. This weekend improved things, mainly because my body shut down. I promised myself I would not write e-mails or these posts late at night or when I was over tired, as I tend to ramble and go off on tangents. oops….

Boston/Cambridge Python Meetup – Wednesday, May 23, 2007, 7:00 PM

Boston Plone Meetup – Thursday, May 24, 2007, 7:00 PM

UPDATE: New Location for the Plone Meetup
Nature Conservancy
11 Ave. de Lafayette
Boston, MA 02111
(617) 542-1908

Peter Marquez has lined up a great speaker for the Cambridge meetup Wednesday! George Lambert of Goldenware Travel will be talking about his companies switch to python and what impacts (good and bad) this decision has had. This is not our normal day, week, or location for a meetup, but was chosen for availability of people and the guest speaker. One of the topics at the meetup will be when and where to hold future meetings, and to schedule future speakers as well as informal sessions. We will also be saying farewell to a Chris Curvey who worked hard for years managing the Boston Python Interest Group.

The Cambridge Python May Meetup

When:

Wednesday, May 23, 2007, 7:00 PM

Where:

Brickbottom Building
1 Fitchburg St, Somerville MA Suite 151 Building B
Somerville , MA 02143
617 620 3071

• Info/Map
• This venue has been marked “private” by the Organizer.

Description:

Why did you choose Python?Developers and their companies are using Python to do all kinds of tasks. From utilities to ERP systems. Why are they choosing Python over Java, C++ and other proven enterprise 3 and 4gls?At this meeting we’ll all get a chance to meet each other, learn why we’ve made this choice and what we’ve learned in the process.To kick off the meeting, I have asked George Lambert of Goldenware Travel to explain why his company has switched to Python and the benefits and challenges they are seeing.The meeting will be held at my office in Somerville. We currently have 7 RSVP’s and 10 “Maybe’s”. Of course that may change with the date change.

Then there is the Plone meetup the very next evening! This will be a great chance to meet the people behind the Boston Plone events coming up and get an overview. Lots to discuss, and lots to learn!

The Boston Plone May Meetup

When:

Thursday, May 24, 2007, 7:00 PM

Where: (UPDATED May 21st 10pm EST)

Nature Conservancy
11 Ave. de Lafayette
Boston , MA 02111
(617) 542-1908

• Info/Map
• This venue has been marked “private” by the Organizer.

Description:

The first ever Plone sprint in Boston is going to be happening July 18-23, 2007 at the Christian Science Center (where we hold the monthly Boston Plone meetups). At the meeting on thursday, we will discuss the sprint topics and plan the logistics to make sure it’s a smooth experience for everyone who participates. Bring your ideas and enthusiasm! If there’s time, we will also get a sneak peek at Plone 3.0 which was just released as beta 3 a few days ago.Read more about the upcoming sprint on the Plone4Artists / Multimedia Sprint in Boston page.We will also discuss the Zope 3 Training for Plone Developers that will be happening in the two days prior to the sprint.If your interested in knowing what what’s the latest and greatest in the Plone world, this meetup is for you.For more information, see http://www.bostonplon…

Directions: The entrance is in the center of the long building next to the reflecting pool. Tell the security guard you are here for the Plone Users Group meeting. Call me on my cell if you have trouble. If coming by T, closest stop is green line Symphony T stop. Hynes Convention Center is also very close, as is Mass Ave (Orange line). Parking at the Christian Science Center underground parking garage available, but will cost $5. Please let the parking attendant know that you are here for the Plone Meetup hosted by Danny Robert.

Please note that while the official location of the church is 1 Norway Street, the meetup location is in the Christian Science Church Park and is closer to Huntington Ave. See this Google map for clarification.

 Hey Boston Plonistas!

I’m pleased to announce the first ever Plone sprint in Boston will be held on July 18-23, 2007!
Thanks to our sponsor, the Christian Science Monitor, for providing the space in which to hold the sprint. Russ and Terry, who have been hosting our monthly Plone meetups, have been gracious enough to open up their meeting facilities for the entire week! We are very fortunate to have the use of these facilities in such a beautiful space in the heart of Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood.

Get more info and register on the sprint page.

At the next Boston Plone May Meetup on Thursday, I’d like to discuss logistics for the sprint, and ask those of you who are attending to help out with the planning to make everything run smoothly. If you’ve never been to a sprint, now’s your chance to participate in an incredible learning experience. For some background about sprinting and what it’s all about, read this explanation of a sprint and this blog post from a first-time sprinter.

I’d like to try to get as many people from the local Boston Plone community (and other OSS communities) involved as possible. The room holds 75-100 persons, so I don’t think we’re going to run out of space!

I have gotten out of touch with the Plone community, which is a shame. I really wanted to go to the BBQ Sprint, but had prior obligations and insufficient funds. A neighbor and friend is a fantastic artist and her brother-in-law set her up with a plone site, but she has yet to do anything with it. My wife is an artist, and I still need to set up her site and store. Plone4Artists looks like it will change both those facts. I have been waffling between plone and django. I love plone for the clean interfaces and widgets, but hate it for the complexity which invariably crops up when you try to do something a bit more custom than usual. I also hate Zen Cart, the only really functional storefront software for it (Zope really which is 1/2 the problem). The Plone4Artists seems to deal with most of the issues I was having problems with. Looks like I will not be getting any sleep until some time next year.

The theme for the sprint is to further improve the Plone4Artists suite of products, which includes proposed topics such as:

Proposed topics

• application of Zope 3 component architecture to building products for Plone
• handling of multimedia files within Plone (audio, video, images)
• embedding externally hosted multimedia content in a Plone site
• podcasting and vodcasting
• large file handling
• bulk uploading using WebDAV, Flash, Java, Zip
• calendaring incl. iCalendar import/export, recurring events
• tagging, commenting, rating of multimedia (or any) content
• and more…!

Not just for coders!
You don’t have to be a coder in order to contribute/benefit at the sprint. There’s also a need for persons to write documentation, make screencasts, test the software and share ideas! You are very welcome to come and learn more about the Plone development process and share your experiences as a user and integrator.

Optional training
Sprinters have an opportunity to receive two days of training immediately preceding the sprint (July 16-17): “Zope 3 Training for Plone Developers” conducted by Rocky Burt, a leading Zope 3 expert, Plone framework team member, contributor to the popular book “Web Component Development with Zope 3″, and main developer of the Plone4Artists suite of products. Get more info and register today to reserve your spot!

Seeking additional sponsors

Please consider showing your support by contributing financially. Sponsoring the sprint will help to cover costs for the sprinting or for participants’ costs getting there. Sponsoring Plone sprints is one of the best ways to contribute to Plone’s development if you dont have the skills/time do the work yourself.

This is from Nate Aune:

Want to learn more about using Zope 3 technology in Plone? Now’s
your chance to get hands-on instruction from one of the leading Zope 3
gurus in the Plone community: Rocky Burt.

We are pleased to announce “Zope 3 Training for Plone Developers”
a comprehensive 2-day training course offered in Boston, MA
on July 16-17. This course is specifically targeted at the developer
already familiar with Plone and Archetypes who now wants to leverage
Zope 3 component architecture in their Plone products.

More info:
http://www.jazkarta.com/services/zope-3-training-for-plone-developers
INSTRUCTOR
Rocky Burt is a recognized leader in the Plone community, having been
elected to the Plone framework team, contributed to the popular book
“Web Component Development with Zope 3″, developer of many Plone
products and author of the Plone4Artists suite of products. Rocky is
an expert in using Zope 3 technologies in Plone, and has given various
conference/sprint talks on this subject including a three hour tutorial
at the last Plone Conference in Seattle.

DATES
July 16-17, 2007

LOCATION
Christian Science Center
1 Norway St.
Boston, MA USA

REGISTRATION
The preferred class size is 10-15, so we encourage you to sign up now
to reserve your spot. There is also some early bird special if you
sign up before May 31. Please see the training page for the cost and to register.
http://www.jazkarta.com/services/zope-3-training-for-plone-developers

All participants will receive a copy of Phillips von Weitershausen’s
book “Web Component Development with Zope 3″ (Second Edition).

PREREQUISITES
Knowledge of Plone and experience developing Plone products with
Archetypes. Python programming skills.

COVERS
Everything you need to know about developing Plone products the “Zope
3 way”, using adapters, view classes and interfaces. See the training
page for the full agenda of topics covered.
http://www.jazkarta.com/services/zope-3-training-for-plone-developers

REQUIREMENTS
A laptop computer to follow along with this hands-on class.

CONTACT
Please contact training@jazkarta.com if you have any questions about
the training.