OSCon Day 0 started off with a whimper....
The flight out to Portland was lovely, marred by the loss of battery power on the laptop just in time to get a nice view of Mount Hood and related majestic peaks. Kids on the plane took pictures, which for some reason amused me.
My ski down the peaks came quickly when I learned upon arrival that my bag was missing and would be coming in on the next flight. With barely enough time as it was to get to the hotel and get sorted in time for the State of the Onion speech, I gave them the name ofmy hotel and was assured they'd get the bag to me before bedtime.
It's bedtime now, and no bag. Thanks United for the free flight, but not so much for the dirty laundry my co-conferencees may have to put up with tomorrow.
Hooked up with my roomate easily, found the room, and found one and then the other of my coworkers here.
Travel whining aside (and I have faith it'll get sorted out before long), the State of the Onion was a fine Larry Wall speech - quiet, appearing disjoint until it all comes together in a whole - the importance of community in Open Source, not just for projects, but for the people involved. Larry built this around the significance of screensavers to his thinking - Rorsach patterns for his life since surgery. Some laughs, some wet eyes at the end.
Paul Graham gave a second speech regarding the important qualities that make a hacker; modeled in part on his Hackers and Painters essay (now book, coincidentally released by ORA), with a few jabs thrown in at Java. As a stump speech to advertise the book, it was effective. As a reminder to the converted as to why they are (or perhaps should feel) important, it was equally effective.
Finally, Damian Conway gave a substitute speech for the annual Quiz Show. Ranging across bad puns, the game of life, and Klingon, it topped a good day off nicely.
Tommorrow will be a whirlwind tour of sessions in conflict with one another. Too many ideas, too many rooms, too few me.
Posted by esinclai at July 28, 2004 01:16 AM |